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BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Sunday that he would press ahead with his controversial drive to amend the constitution to prevent the courts from dismantling his party.
Under the charter, the courts can disband an entire political party if one top executive is found guilty of vote fraud.
Yongyut Tiyapairat, the deputy leader of Samak's People Power Party (PPP), was found guilty of vote buying last week. The Supreme Court ruling now threatens the entire party with dissolution.
"When the parliamentary session opens, we will move to amend the charter, we have reasons to do this," Samak said.
Samak insisted he was not acting out of self-interest, saying that the main opposition Democrat Party was also being threatened with dissolution.
"If all the political parties were disbanded, the country would suffer," he said.
Samak's proposal to make changes to the army-backed charter sparked street protests seven weeks ago by the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy, whose rallies in 2006 led to a coup against then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
In May, Samak had proposed holding a referendum on whether to amend the constitution. He did not say Sunday whether he would still organise a vote or simply ask parliament to approve the changes.
- AFP/os
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