6
Sunday
July 2025
5:10 AM IST
News Headlines
Home   | Main News   | Kerala  | National   | International  | Business   | Sports   | Entertainment   | Columns   | Offbeat   | About Deepika 
International News
Thai court dissolves Shinawatra-linked party over princess PM bid
 
Bangkok: A key party linked to Thailand''s powerful Shinawatra clan was dissolved Thursday by a court, just weeks before a general election, over its ill-starred bid to front a princess as a candidate for premier. Thai Raksa Chart, which is tied to ex-premiers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, proposed Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate if its bloc emerged with a lower house majority after the March 24 election.

It was an unprecedented move in a constitutional monarchy where royals are officially above the political fray, and prompted a rare public rebuke by her younger brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who issued a royal command declaring the party''s move "inappropriate". Thai Raksa Chart was found guilty of committing an act "hostile to the constitutional monarchy" by the nine-member Constitutional Court, which unanimously voted to dissolve the party. Party executives -- including two Shinawatra family members -- were also banned from politics for a decade.

"The monarchy is above politics and to maintain political neutrality, the king, the queen and princesses can never exercise political rights by casting votes," judge Nakharin Mektrairat said at the end of an extensive ruling. The princess reacted to the news on Instagram, where she posts regularly. "I have heard the news. It is sad and depressing," she said. Dissolution is a blow to the prospects of the powerful Shinawatras winning a parliamentary majority at the polls.

Thai Raksa Chart was established to back up the Shinawatras'' main political vehicle Pheu Thai, which won the 2011 elections with a landslide. Conversely, its downfall -- the party lasted just four months -- is a major fillip to its army-allied rivals who are fielding current junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha as their candidate for premier. Thai Raksa Chart was set to compete in 174 constituencies with 108 candidates vying for seats through the party list -- a system to allocate extra parliamentary seats according to the proportion of votes they scoop up.

Grim-faced party executives, all dressed in black suits and led by party chief Preechapol Pongpanich, filed out of the Constitutional Court through the ranks of media. Fighting back tears, Preechapol told reporters the party was "extremely saddened" by the dissolution, a ruling which "will affect the rights and freedoms" of candidates and voters. The same court has disbanded two other parties linked to the Shinawatra dynasty -- and toppled two of its prime ministers -- in the last 13 years of political turmoil since Thaksin was booted from office by a coup in 2006.

The legal moves were "deja vu", said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University, in a country trapped in a spin-dryer of short-lived civilian governments, bloody street protests and coups. The last army power grab toppled Thaksin''s sister Yingluck in 2014. There were tears among the smattering of die-hard Shinawatra supporters gathered near the court. "Can we have democracy? We have fought for it for more than 10 years," Oye, 51, told AFP, giving only one name.

Thais have powered Shinawatra-linked parties to government at every poll since 2001 only to be knocked down by the courts and coups. Pheu Thai''s electoral dominance was cast into doubt by a new electoral system designed by the junta to limit the number of seats it can win. The Shinawatras have one other party called Pheu Chart for supporters to transfer some votes. But Thursday''s court ruling raises the odds of a broad -- and potentially uncomfortable -- pro-democracy alliance as the only route back to power for the Shinawatras.

Future Forward, a new party whose billionaire leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is an acerbic critic of the junta but not an natural ally of Thaksin, is emerging as an untested force at the polls. With 18 days to go, tension is rising. The country remains deeply divided between those who loathe the military and fear its return to office after elections, and the anti-Thaksin camp. Thaksin''s enemies accuse him of toxifying Thai politics with corruption and nepotism. He has been in self-exile since 2008 to avoid jail, but still draws adoration from the rural poor for his economic and welfare policies in a society with a chasmic wealth gap.


64 arrested in London on Charles III coronation day
Bangladesh police arrest six persons for selling fraud US visa stamps
Erdogan announces extension of grain deal by 120 days
Musk hints at new chief for Twitter
Modi interacts with Biden, Sunak and Macron on sidelines of G20 summit
PM Modi arrives in Bali for G20 Summit and bilateral meetings with key world leaders
Biden says US will 'vigorously' compete with China
Biden admin committed to work with India on its transition away from Russia: White House
Time to act faster on climate change: Rishi Sunak at COP27
Imran Khan-led march against Pak govt to resume Tuesday, discharged from hospital
Massive missile strike by Russia on major Ukraine cities
Stampede kills 8 at concert in DR Congo
UN chief welcomes forming of new govt in Iraq
Erdogan vows to adopt new Turkish constitution in 2023
Boris Johnson pulls out of UK PM race, Rishi Sunak closer to victory
Rishi Sunak would beat Liz Truss if UK PM poll held now, survey finds
Imran Khan stuns PML-N-led ruling coalition in bypolls; wins 6 National Assembly seats
PM Shehbaz dubs Imran as greatest 'fraudster ever'
Imran demands end to 'reign of robbers' in Sindh
Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 3 yrs in prison
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
'Ponniyin Selvan II' breaches Rs 300 crore mark at global box office
 Chennai: Director Mani Ratnam's magnum opus "Ponniyin Selvan II" has raised over Rs 300 crore at the  
Selena Gomez sets record straight on her relationship status amid dating rumours
Ranveer Singh bags Filmfare Best Actor for '83'
RRR can hit theatres on Holi
KERALA NEWS
Top police official held in gang rape case
 Kozhikode: Police on Sunday arrested a Circle Inspector (station house officer) attached in Beypore
Rain likely to occur many places in Kerala
Two killed as car plunged into well
Kerala CM greet Oommen Chandy on his 79th birthday
NATIONAL NEWS
Quo Vadis, Manipur?
 Imphal - Hardly any state in India has undergone in the last decade the chaos, lawlessness and suffe
27-year-old Hyderabad woman among victims of Texas mall shooting
One held in Swati Maliwal case: Delhi Police
PM to deliver opening address at 'No Money for Terror' event
Untitled Page
Rashtra Deepika LTD
Copyright @ 2021 , Rashtra Deepika Ltd.