Abhisit said a false assumption had been spread that when a major party was guilty of violating the law and faced dissolution, its opponent would have to be dissolved too.

The Attorney-General filed cases against the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties separately.

Thai Rak Thai is accused of hiring candidates from small parties to run in the April 2 election last year in order to avoid the legal requirement of attaining 20 per cent of total votes, if there was just one candidate in a constituency. TRT candidates were the sole people to stand in some constituencies in the South because major opposition parties boycotted the poll.

Meanwhile, the Democrat Party is accused of cooperating with the People's Alliance for Democracy to topple the Thai Rak Thai government. It is also accused of hiring candidates from the Progressive Democratic Party to run in the election in Trang and frame Thai Rak Thai.

It is also alleged to have obstructed candidate registration in Songkhla and hired the leader of the Better Life Party to frame Thai Rak Thai.

Abhisit said the media and observers should have asked for and studied the witnesses' testimonies and evidence filed at the tribunal before expressing opinions on the cases.

Yesterday saw the tenth session in the case against the Democrat and Progressive Democratic parties.

Democrat executive Sathit Wongnongtoey and deputy party leader Wittaya Kaewparadai both testified. Sathit denied telling his assistants to bring unqualified candidates from the smaller party to register as candidates in Trang. He said his assistant Taksanai Keesoon was contacted by the Progressive Democrat's coordinator.

Wittaya said he had talked to the smaller party's coordinator, who confirmed Sathit's testimony.

Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Nation