None came. And, surprisingly, nobody was surprised.

And when none of the banned politicians even tried to express regret over the unprecedented incriminating verdict, nobody was very shocked either.

It certainly speaks volumes about the state of Thai politics when you don't hear people - even the staunchest supporters of those found guilty - scream "This is a huge loss for the country", or "There goes the country's most admirable group of politicians", when, all of a sudden, over 100 of the country's best-known politicians are swept from the scene.

It takes some real hard work to appreciate this enlightening social phenomenon. It helps you to understand why very few people consider the loss of this group of politicians a great misfortune.

The telltale, blow-by-blow account of the verdict detailing how two senior Thai Rak Thai executives - General Thamarak Isarangura and Pongsak Ruktapongpisal - committed electoral fraud is perhaps the most sensational eye-opener for most Thais.

The tribunal wrote in graphic detail about how these executives - both very close to then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - bribed two small parties to contest the April 2 elections last year to circumvent a requirement that a candidate standing unchallenged in a constituency must receive at least 20 per cent of the eligible votes to win a seat. Thai Rak Thai wanted to be seen to be "challenged" by another party. But the tribunal ruled that in effect it boiled down to this: Thai Rak Thai was fielding two candidates in one constituency, which is a blatant violation of the law.

You have to read the verdict paragraph by paragraph to understand how dirty tricks and money were deployed to cheat in the election. You have to see through the machinations and tricks unveiled by the highly professional investigation conducted by this nine-member panel of judges to realise why Thaksin and his cronies had always been certain about the number of seats they were sure to win in certain constituencies.

Now you know what they meant when they said: "We can fix anything." They were even prepared to alter a political party's membership registration to make sure that an unqualified candidate met the required standard. Before this highly revealing ruling was handed down last week, scandalous stories of this nature had always been considered wild, unfounded rumours hurled by a losing candidate against a party that had won big. Now we know it's a game they had always played. The only regret they seem to have is that they got caught red-handed this time.

The Thai Rak Thai executives don't seem to realise, however, that this isn't just another "unfortunate episode" that will soon be forgotten by most Thais. The tribunal put their stern judgement down in writing this time: "Thai Rak Thai Party's offences undermined the constitutional monarchy and threatened national security."

In another part of the verdict, the judges ruled for the first time in legal history that "unconstitutional means of seizing political power", as stipulated in the charter, shouldn't only mean a military takeover. Any attempt to seek power through fraudulent means - and that includes Thai Rak Thai's fraud in the last election - must also be considered "unconstitutional".

Hence, the sharp, damningly harsh wording in the ruling: "The acts by the Thai Rak Thai Party are considered extremely dangerous to the country. The party existed not for the wellbeing of the people but to strive for political power."

But then hardly had the ink on which the verdict was written dried when coup-leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin raised the possibility of granting amnesty to all 111 Thai Rak Thai executives. His reason for making such a hasty proposal? He said it's for "national reconciliation".

Perhaps, it's a "pacification programme" between him and the Thai Rak Thai Party's leaders. But for a nation only treated to a hard dose of truth about political fraud of the highest level less than 48 hours earlier, Sonthi's sudden "let's-forgive-the-swindlers" move smacks too much of political expediency.

After all, how can you pardon someone who hasn't owned up to his guilt?

Suthaichai Yoon