Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun urged yesterday that the verdicts in the electoral-fraud cases against the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties be based strictly on the law, rather political considerations.

His comment followed a rumour that only one of the country's two largest political parties would be found guilty by Constitution Tribunal, but the judges would rule to disband the other party as well in order to maintain national harmony and prevent possible unrest.

"If a party committed fraud, it should be punished," Anand said. The logic that "if one party is dissolved, the other should face the same fate" was obviously against the rule of law, he said.

If both parties committed a crime, they should both be found guilty, he said. If the evidence was unclear, neither of them should be dissolved, Anand said.

"Justice must come from the rule of law," he insisted.

There has been widespread concern in the run-up to the Tribunal's rulings on May 30 that supporters of any party dissolved would cause unrest in protest. The focus is particularly on the Thai Rak Thai, as some of its key members have already warned that their supporters would rally against the junta if the party is dissolved.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking Democrat source said yesterday that party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was considering taking a break from politics if the Tribunal ruled to dissolve the party.

The source, who asked not to be named, said even if the Tribunal verdict did not ban the party's executives from political activity, Abhisit would be reluctant to run in the coming general election or accept any political post.

The source said Abhisit was not backing down but rather wanted to take a stand against injustice, because the party had done nothing wrong. Moreover, he wanted to show responsibility if the party was dissolved while under his care, the source said.

Some of the party's other executives agree with Abhisit and also plan to take a break from politics if the party is dissolved, the source said.

However, it is still uncertain what penalties party executives may face if the party is dissolved - whether they will be banned from simply from political posts or from all political activity for five years.

The Political Party Act, an organic law to the 1997 Constitution, bans executives of dissolved parties from such posts or taking part in forming a new party for five years.

Nevertheless, an order of the Council for Democratic Reform - now the Council for National Security (CNS) - increased the penalty to ban the executives from all political activity and revoke their voting rights for five years.

Bu it is uncertain if the order can be applied retroactively.

The source said Abhisit was also reluctant to accept prominent political positions offered by others in case he was no longer the Democrat leader.

Another high-ranking executive of the party, who did not want to be named, confirmed the information, saying the party's executives and former MPs had discussed the case.

He said they had heard that the CNS might want both the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties dissolved.

"Some members thought the party leader should take responsibility with the act but some thought that if we did so it would appear that we were admitting to committing wrongdoing. We were set up - why should we take a break and not run in the general election?" he said.

Political Desk

The Nation