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BANGKOK - Thailand's Attorney General Friday asked the country's Constitutional Court to rule on whether or not to dissolve the ruling People Power Party (PPP), a spokesman said.
The possible dissolution follows the Supreme Court's conviction of deputy PPP leader Yongyut Tiyapairat, then House Speaker, for electoral fraud in July.
Under Thai law Yongyut's party must take collective responsibility for his wrongdoing. The Attorney General has worked to gather evidence for the case alongside the kingdom's Electoral Commission.
"In the petition we asked the court whether to either dissolve PPP and revoke the political rights of 37 party executives for five years or just revoke the rights of those executives involved in fraud," Thanapich Mulpruek, the Attorney General's spokesman said, referring to all those implicated in the vote-buying scheme.
The case also threatens the dissolution of two other parties from the ruling six-party coalition -- Matchinatipataya and Chart Thai -- as well as the PPP.
The ruling PPP, comprised mostly of members from the previously dissolved Thai Rak Thai Party, has already set up another party under the name Puea Thai Party in case the court rules against them.
The current Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech is leader of Puea Thai. - AFP/vm
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