Supporters of candidates vying for Bangkok and district council seats gather at the Thai-Japanese Youth Centre as registration begins yesterday.

The Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties are attempting to distance themselves from people who allegedly hired small parties to field - and not to field - candidates in the April elections. Both could face dissolution if the alleged "hirers" are linked to them.

TRT executives Thamarak Isarangura and Pongsak Ruktapongpisal have both said in recent days they would resign from the party to widen the distance between it and themselves and lessen the chance of the party's dissolution.

The two are the alleged masterminds behind the funding of small parties - Thai Ground and Pattana Chat Thai - which were accused of "receiving payments".

Meanwhile, the Democrats led two other opposition parties - Chat Thai and Mahachon - to boycott the April 2 poll, which saw only TRT candidates run in most southern constituencies during the campaign.

The South is the traditional stronghold of the Democrats.

TRT tried desperately to help its candidates avoid falling under the "20-per-cent rule", in which a single candidate has to win 20 per cent of eligible votes to be elected.

This pressure was blamed for forcing Thamarak and Pongsak to allegedly fund the small parties.

An investigative panel set up by the Election Commission (EC) last month recommended that the caretaker Prime Minister and TRT leader Thaksin Shinawatra be charged for contracting the small parties to contest the election, an offence punishable by party dissolution.

But the TRT legal team insists that the punishment, if any, could only be imposed on "individuals" because the party had not been involved in the wrongdoing.

It appears that Thamarak and Pongsak may eventually "sacrifice themselves" by admitting they did the deed themselves, without the party's knowledge in order to shield TRT.

Although TRT has reportedly not decided yet whether Thamarak and Pongsak should make this sacrifice, it follows what the Demo-crats did. Thaikorn Polsuwan, a former party affiliate, attempted to convince the public he acted alone in trying to expose alleged campaign fraud by the ruling party.

Thaikorn resigned recently from the Democrat Party after he was caught on a hidden camera offering money on behalf of a Democrat executive to leaders of a small party.

He insisted he was a non-active party member who never received "orders" from Democrat leaders. He insisted he acted to protect the country's democracy.

However, members of the Democrat inner-circle would know that Thaikorn was a secretary of a former Democrat leader, who failed in the race for the party leadership in 2003. Thaikorn even walked around the Democrat headquarters to check if party executives had switched to back his boss.

The Attorney-General's Office is considering cases against the two parties, both of which would eventually be dissolved if found guilty by the Constitution Court.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation