Court disbands Thai party for nominating a royal

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A8

March 8, 2019

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Court disbands Thai party for nominating a royal

Source: AP | 07:09 UTC+8 March 8, 2019 |

Print Edition

A COURT in Thailand yesterday ordered the dissolution of a major political party ahead of this month’s general election because it nominated a member of the royal family to be its candidate for prime minister.

The Constitutional Court also banned members of the Thai Raksa Chart Party’s executive board from political activity for 10 years.

Thai Raksa Chart on February 8 nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol as its candidate for the March 24 polls. Her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, later that day issued a royal order calling the nomination highly inappropriate and unconstitutional.

Thai Raksa Chart is aligned with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The court’s statement explaining the ruling was even more critical of the party’s action than the king had been. It appeared to ascribe ill intentions to the party’s actions, blaming it for endangering a tradition that keeps the royal family above politics.

As legal justification for the nomination, the party had pointed out that she held no formal royal titles because they were rescinded when she married a foreigner, an American, in 1972.

The nine-judge panel spurned such reasoning, following instead the king’s line of argument that “even though she relinquished her title according to royal laws ... she still retains her status and position as a member of the Chakri dynasty.”

World

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Court disbands Thai party for nominating a royal

Email this to your friend