Democrats pick legal teams to fight dissolution charges
The Democrat Party yesterday appointed four legal teams headed by chief adviser Chuan Leekpai to defend it against charges in the Constitution Court that could result in its dissolution.
After receiving a petition about the case from the court, the party appointed Chuan to head four legal teams to conduct the defence against four charges. Pichet Panvichatkul, a Democrat Party executive member, will head one team to defend against an accusation that the party, by boycotting the inconclusive April 2 election, conspired to overthrow an elected government and wrongfully encouraged voters to cast "no votes". Deputy leader Withaya Kaewparadai and his team will defend the party against the accusation that it hired small parties to run in an election in Trang province. Secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban will lead the fight against the claim that the Democrats paid the Progressive Democratic Party to file fraud charges against Thai Rak Thai. And deputy secretary-general Taworn Senneeam will respond to the claim the party instigated Songkhla residents to obstruct candidates from registering for the April 23 repeat vote. Meanwhile, newly-appointed head of the Constitution Court, Ura Wang-ormklang, said the split in judges' opinions over the cases for dissolving five political parties would contribute to the defence.
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