Denying that he was a member of the Thai Rak Thai Party, Tossaporn Srisawangwong, chairman of the Confederation of Democratic Network, said both parties had intentionally prevented the elections from being held

by not fielding candidates, thereby setting a bad precedent that other parties might be tempted to follow.

He said both parties had received a political subsidy from the EC and should not have undermined democracy by boycotting the election.

The grounds he cited for the dissolution of the Chat Thai and Mahachon parties were the same ones the EC mentioned with reference to the Democrat Party, he said.

He asked the EC to use the Thai Rak Thai's filing of a complaint against the Democrat Party on the same charges to incriminate Chat Thai and Mahachon. Election Commission secretary-general Pol Maj Gen Ekachai Warunprapa said similar complaints had been made against both the parties by people other than Tossaporn.

The Thai Rak Thai had withdrawn a similar charge against both the parties, saying the idea of boycotting the elections was originated by the Democrat Party.

Chat Thai Party deputy leader Somsak Prissanananthakul said Tossaporn should have studied the Constitution carefully before filing the complaint, because the law did not make it mandatory for political parties to field MP candidates. He said public prosecutors had excluded this charge from their case against the Democrat Party.

Chat Thai deputy leader Weerasak Kowsurat said those who had filed the complaint should have considered the consequences of their action.

"They should have thought of whether or not it would help the country find a way out its political crisis. The Chat Thai Party has always acted in the interest of the country,'' he said.