After weeks of protests that paralyzed his government and closed the capital’s airports, Thailand’s prime minister resigned on Tuesday. Protesters promised to lift their siege by Wednesday and cargo flights resumed.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s resignation came after the nation’s Constitutional Court dissolved Thailand’s top three ruling parties for electoral fraud and banned him from politics for five years.
Somchai accepted the ruling with equanimity. He had been forced to govern from the northern city of Chiang Mai since Wednesday.
In Chiang Mai, he told reporters, “It is not a problem. I was not working for myself. Now I will be a full-time citizen.”
The airport seizures, which stranded 300,000 foreign travelers, would end Wednesday, according to protest leaders.
Suvarnabhumi international airport will resume operations on Friday with the waning of the political crisis, the official in charge of Thailand’s airports.
Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, the chairman of the Airports of Thailand said, “Please have confidence in us.” Flights will be a birthday gift for Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 81 on Dec. 5, he added. Cargo flights resumed at the airport on Tuesday.
Fears of retaliatory violence by supporters of the government were raised Tuesday’s due to the court’s ruling, which could sink the country deeper into crisis.
According to a government spokesman, Nattawut Sai-kau, his six-party coalition would step down. A cheer arose from thousands of members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy occupying the international airport upon hearing the news.
Nong Sugrawut, a 55-year-old businessman said, “This is a blow for corruption.” Suvarnabhumi Pailin Jampapong, a 41-year-old Bangkok housekeeper choking back tears as she jumped up and down said, “My heart is happy. My friends are very happy.”
Neither the army, a key player in Thai politics nor the country’s much revered king, offered Somchai firm backing, as he became increasingly isolated in recent weeks
Hundreds of Somchai’s supporters gathered outside the court, saying the swiftness of the ruling — which came just an hour after closing arguments ended — appeared predetermined. They even cut off the power supply to the court at one point, but electricity was restored with diesel generators.
An activist shouted through a megaphone outside the court, “The court is not qualified to make this ruling. They are nothing more than apologists for the alliance, who are ruining the country.”
The court found Somchai’s People’s Power Party, the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party guilty of committing fraud in the December 2007 elections that brought the coalition to power. Court President Chat Chalavorn said, “Dishonest political parties undermine Thailand’s democratic system.”
According to the court’s ruling, Somchai and 59 executives of the three parties are to go into political exile and are barred from politics for five years. 24 of the 59 exiles are lawmakers who will also have to resign their parliamentary seats.
However, the left over lawmakers of the three dissolved parties who escaped the ban can join other parties, try to bring together a new coalition then choose a new prime minister. Suparak Nakboonnam, a government spokeswoman said that until then, Deputy Prime Minister Chaowarat Chandeerakul will become the caretaker prime minister and added that parliament will have to pick a new prime minister within 30 days.
The ruling is expected to widen the dangerous rift in Thai society that many fear could lead to violence between pro- and anti-government groups despite the appearance of a smooth political transition.
An explosive device fired from an elevated highway late Monday fell among hundreds of protesters inside Don Muang airport, killing one person and wounding 22. With this death, the number of people killed in bomb attacks, clashes with police and street battles between government opponents and supporters was raised to seven.
Somchai is accused by protesters of being a proxy of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the alliance’s original target. Thaksin, who is Somchai’s brother-in-law, was deposed in a 2006 military coup and has fled the country to escape corruption charges.
The difficulty is in the fact that alliance supporters are largely middle-class citizens who say Thailand’s electoral system is susceptible to vote-buying and argue that the rural majority — the Thaksin camp’s political base — is not sophisticated enough to cast ballots responsibly.
At TicosLand.com and in Costa Rica, we support the democratic process at all costs. Intervention by the army or the courts to oppose the will of the people and a proper electoral process is a serious setback to democracy. We urge Thai authorities to allow the people to decide who should rule them.
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