Former constitution drafter Kanin Boonsuwan said the current Constitution Tribunal does not have any legal power to order the dissolution of any of the five political parties said to be involved in electoral irregularities because the 1997 constitution has been nullified by the September 19 coup leaders.

As the 1997 constitution has been trashed, so should the electoral-irregularity cases against the five parties, including the proposal that the former ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party be dissolved.

"Laws regarding political parties and about the formation and dissolution of political parties - and the power of the Constitution Court to dissolve parties as well as the establishment of the Constitution Court itself - all stemmed from the 1997 constitution. So as the 1997 constitution has been torn apart, everything that emanated from that constitution must also be abandoned, even if there is an order passed by the coup leaders and an interim constitution in place to continue the trials. It's like a monk who has been de-robed. He can be ordained again but the continuity of his ordination period has been severed," said Kanin.

Kanin insisted the newly created Constitution Tribunal, which came into existence after the coup, cannot replace the judicial role of the now-defunct Constitution Court. Charan Hattakam, a member of the constitution tribunal, insists however that the new body has the judicial authority to carry on with the trials, saying the interim constitution has empowered the tribunal with the authority. Charan cites Article 35 of the interim constitution empowering the tribunal to carry out the judicial duties of the Constitution Court.

"So far the Constitution Tribunal has not discussed the topic of whether we have the power to consider the party-dissolution cases or not. That's because we do not think it's necessary as we're certain that we have the authority to do so," Charan said yesterday.

The tribunal may try all five parties together. Also, it is not clear if they will allow the media to observe the proceedings through closed-circuit television.