This is a needed first step towards correcting Thailand's battered democracy. It is worth noting that it took a mostly middleclass uprising, followed by unprecedented judicial activism, to disentangle the country's flawed democracy from the sinister grip of the Thaksin regime.

Thailand's democracy was given a new lease of life following the disgraceful exit last month of the three election commissioners. Vasana Puemlarp, Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien, were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment after being convicted by the Criminal Court of malfeasance in connection with illegal activities designed to favour Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party in the April 2 general election and the April 23 rerun.

Suddenly democracy-loving people opposed to Thaksin's authoritarian leadership and corruption-prone government are regaining their hopes of ridding Thailand's political system of the culture of deceit and corruption that has been perpetrated by the premier and his cohorts over the past five and a half years.

Political parties must now compete against one another on a more or less even playing field that is relatively free from vote-buying and other instances of electoral fraud.

They must now instead try to persuade people to vote in their favour by coming up with policy platforms that appeal to a wide cross-section of society. The political party that inspires the confidence of the greatest number of eligible voters will be declared victorious and given a chance to form the next government, implement their declared policies, and work to enable the country to realise its full potential for the benefit of all people.

The next government will be judged by its performance in terms of vision, efficiency and honesty in the way it runs the country, as well as its respect for civil rights and the smooth functioning of systems of checks and balances among the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of government. Once all these components of a genuine democracy are in place, our parliamentary democracy under the constitutional monarchy must be allowed to run its course the way it should.

Changes in government will be determined at the ballot box at regular intervals.

This normalisation of politics is required if our democracy is to be restored to good health and allowed to take root in our society.

However, while the Democrat Party is doing what it can to establish itself as an alternative to the Thai Rak Thai in providing leadership to the country, which is being held down by political turmoil, an economic slowdown and social decay, the Thai Rak Thai Party unfortunately continues to wallow in the kind of populist policies that pander to the unprincipled wants and needs of the masses.

Over the weekend, caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin was continuing to manipulate the rural masses, which form a solid political base that may yet deliver another electoral victory to his party, by making promises to hand out cattle and land title deeds to impoverished farmers in the North and the Northeast. Such soliciting of public support when a general election is to be held in less than three months' time is considered a low blow, if not also a violation of electoral rules.

Meanwhile, Thaksin remains evasive as to whether he will take up the challenge issued by the Democrat Party's youthful leader Abhisit Vejjajiva for a TV debate on national development strategies and policy issues. As a politician struggling desperately to reclaim his legitimacy to rule, Thaksin is only exposing himself as an opportunistic, dishonest politician who not only has no sense of fair play but also lacks the intellectual capacity to engage in rational discussion.