The announcement was made yesterday during the first day of the corruption trial against the three remaining commissioners.

"With his sense of responsibility, he realised the body wasted money, time and caused social rifts and so he resigned to follow his conscience. He deserves to be lauded," Thaworn told the four judges while the three remaining commissioners sat in court.

"To try him would not benefit society, so I beg the court to allow me to withdraw the lawsuit."

By talking about conscience and responsibility, Thaworn was in effect giving a slap on the wrist to the three commissioners led by Vasana Puemlarp. But the three looked unperturbed, sticking to their not guilty plea.

After hearing the charges had been dropped, a relieved-looking Charupat told The Nation, that while he gave no reason for his resignation on May 15, he did it "out of gratitude to His Majesty".

A few days before Charupat stood down, the King called on leading judges to resolve the electoral crisis.

Charupat refused to comment on what his three former colleagues should do.

Thaworn said he decided to drop the charges against Charupat weeks ago but wanted the former commissioner to attend court so he would get a taste of being a defendant in a criminal lawsuit.

The EC and its commissioners are accused of helping the Thai Rak Thai Party by organising a by-election ballot on April 23.

Additional candidates were allowed to contest the votes, which enabled unsuccessful candidates to avoid the 20-per-cent-minimum vote rule.

The judges said the case was crucial to the legitimacy of the EC and would need to be finished before the next general election later this year.

One of the judges said, without resolution, there would be no end to the political crisis.

"The issue is about the motive," said a judge. "So it shouldn't take too long."

Both parties were told to have their witnesses prepared by next Tuesday, with Thaworn due to testify first.

Yesterday's proceedings were disrupted, however, when the Democrats' legal team complained that the written evidence demanded from the EC was incomplete. The court ordered that four missing items be made available by Friday.

Democrat lawyers failed to oppose Vasana's plea to allow he and his two colleagues to avoid attending the bulk of the trial. He was able to convince the judges they were busy preparing for local elections.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation