(dpa) -
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed Sunday to push for amendments to the
2007 constitution, describing the military-sponsored charter as a
"trap" to kill his People Power Party.
Samak, on his Sunday television talk show, said the 2007 charter had already
managed to snair two smaller parties as it laid its trap for the People Power
Party (PPP), said the Bangkok Post online news service.
Under Thailand's 2007 constitution, drafted by a military- appointed commission
in the aftermath of the coup d'etat on September 19, 2006, a political party may be disbanded if it is proven that one of their executives committed
electoral fraud.
On Friday, Thailand's Election Commission ruled that two of the smaller parties
in the current PPP-led coalition government, committed fraud in the December
23, 2007, polls and called on the Constitution Court to dissolve them.
The case against the Chart Thai and Machimathipataya parties is expected to
take several months.
The ruling People Power Party (PPP), which won 233 out of the 480 contested
seats in the December 23 polls, is also in danger of dissolution in the coming
months.
The Election Commission earlier this year found PPP deputy leader Yomngyuth
Tiyapairat guilty of vote-buying and is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on his
case.
If found guilty by the court, the entire PPP party could be dissolved by the Constitution Court.
Both the 1997 and 2007 constitutions included tough penalities on parties
engaged in electoral fraud and vote-buying, which is rife in Thailand's system of money-politics.
Samak, claiming the 2007 charter was specifically designed to undermine the
PPP, is seeking a swift amendment to the 2007 constitution to save his
coalition government.
The PPP is known to be a supporter of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who
was toppled by the September, 2006, coup on charges of corruption and
undermining democratic institutions and the monarchy.
Opponents to Thaksin have promised to protest Samak's constitutional
amendments, promising more political instability in Thailand during the coming
months, observers noted.