BANGKOK, THAILAND — Thailand's Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the governing party and banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years today, plunging the country deeper into political crisis.
Somchai's People's Power Party and two others in the governing coalition must be shut down because they were guilty of fraud in December elections, the court ruled.
Somchai is expected to step down soon, but his party and its allies already have a list of 20 possible successors, according to local reports.
So any victory is likely to be short lived for the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, which seized the country's main airport a week ago.
The court decision left Thais wondering if anyone can emerge to lead a country dangerously adrift as an occupation of two airports cripples the once-lucrative tourism industry, rival camps of protesters threaten each other, and rumors circulate of a looming military coup.
Before the ruling, Somchai's officials had already set up a new party, called Puea Thai, for its members of parliament and any allies who wished to join.
The judges had to hold their hearing in a different court after red-shirted government supporters blocked the Constitutional Court building to protest what they see as a rush to judgment.
The court refused to hear witnesses even though Somchai's party, and two others in his ruling coalition, had presented a list of more that 200 people they wanted to testify.
And this is supposed to be party time for Thais.
Each year they celebrate their beloved king's birthday, a national bash that draws throngs here to watch a parade of royal barges, listen to the monarch's jazz compositions or bow as he passes in his pale yellow Rolls-Royce.
This time, as they await King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 81st birthday on Friday, most Thais are wondering what, if anything, the man revered as a demigod will do to lead his subjects out of the dangerous political crisis.
With the capital's two civilian airports shut down by the anti-government demonstrators and supporters of Somchai holding counter-protests, fears are growing that the stalemate could erupt in serious street violence. One deadly attack was reported early today on airport protesters.
Thousands of PAD members who have occupied the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports since last week see Somchai's ouster as a crucial victory. The prime minister's supporters had denounced the expected decision as "a judicial coup."
