Thai court dissolves govt, siege at airports to end

Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded yesterday, spurring anti-government protesters to end their blockades of Bangkok's airports.

Government party members will switch to a new "shell" party already set up and they said they would vote for a new prime minister on December 8.

Chavarat Charnvirakul, a construction mogul and first deputy prime minister, was named interim¹ leader, an official said.

Anti-government protesters cheered Somchai's fall after only 2 months in power and their leader said they would halt all rallies, including blockades of Bangkok's airports.

People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Sondhi Limthongkul said they would start pulling out of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports at 10 am today.

"We've finished our duty," said Sondhi, who had accused Somchai of being a pawn² of his former brother-in-law and deposed³ leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in exile.

The airports operator said it would decide today when passenger flights could resume.

While the chaos⁴ may soon be over for thousands of stranded⁵ travelers in Thailand, the country's wider conflict between forces loyal to Thaksin and Bangkok's royalist elites⁶ looked set to drag on.

"The divisions are so deep, it's difficult to see how it could be over," said political analyst⁷ Giles Ungpakhorn of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

The Constitutional Court also disbanded two other parties in Somchai's six-party coalition⁸ for vote fraud in the 2007 general election and barred their leaders from politics for five years.

The rulings raised the risk of clashes between red-shirted government supporters, who forced the judges to find a new venue⁹ after surrounding the court, and yellow-shirted PAD protesters, who had invaded the airports in a "final battle" to oust¹⁰ Somchai.

Hours before the court decisions, one person was killed and 22 wounded after a grenade was fired at protesters at Don Muang.

Thailand's revered¹¹ King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in previous political crises during his six decades on the throne, made no mention of the country's troubles during a short speech at a military parade in Bangkok.

Around 250,000 foreign tourists have been stranded by the week-long sit-ins at Don Muang, a domestic hub, and the bigger Suvarnabhumi international airport.

The first cargo¹² flight in a week left Suvarnabhumi yesterday, a welcome sight for a tourist- and export-dependent economy already suffering from the global financial crisis.

The travel chaos worried neighbors who were to attend a regional summit in Thailand in two weeks, prompting the government to postpone¹³ it until March 2009, a spokesman said.

All six parties in the coalition government vowed¹⁴ to stick together and seek a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister on December 8. Lawmakers who escaped the political ban would move to new "shell" parties to form another ruling coalition.

"The verdict comes as no surprise to all of us," said Jakrapob Penkair, a former minister and close ally of Thaksin.

"But our members are determined¹⁵ to move on and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have," he said.

China said yesterday it hopes social stability is restored in Thailand as early as possible.

"China is Thailand's friendly neighbor and we are concerned about the situation. We hope social stability and economic development are restored as early as possible, which is in the interests of the Thai people as well as the stable development of the region," Foreign Ministry¹⁶ spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news briefing yesterday.

Zhou Fangye, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Thailand's political turmoil¹⁷ has damaged regional trade cooperation and the economic situation.

The week-long siege of the main international airports has paralyzed its tourism industry and hurt investor¹⁸ confidence, Zhou said.

Questions:

1. Why did Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolve Somchai Wongsawat’s mandate¹⁹ to rule?

2. How many tourists are currently stranded in Bangkok’s two airports?

3. When will the next general election be held to choose the next prime minister?

Answers:

1. It found his party guilty of voter fraud in the 2007 election and barred the leaders from politics for five years.

2. 250,000.

3. December 8.