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Published on August 3, 2007

Such political activity will include being a party adviser or taking part in an election campaign, he said.

"To stick with principles, we have to sanction executives of dissolved parties. Otherwise, what we have done is meaningless. They can still be politicians through nominees," Komsan said.

When the law is effective, 111 former executives of the Thai Rak Thai Party, which was ordered dissolved in May, will also be banned. Their voting rights have been revoked for five years.

He said the CDC did not fear criticism from executives of the former ruling party.

"Any new law must face criticism, anyway. But what's the point of having party dissolution if the CDC fears criticism and does not issue the ban," he said.

CDC spokesman Paiboon Warahapaitoon said the Political Party Bill, drafted by the committee, also included a ban on registering a party with an identical name or logo as a dissolved party.

Establishing a political party will be more difficult as those who want to do so must recruit at least 5,000 members before its registration, he said.

Under the 1998 Political Party Act, 15 people could register a party before gathering 5,000 members in 180 days.

The CDC's Election Commission Bill will allow four of the five commissioners to order a new election or revoke voting rights, instead of requiring a unamimous decision as before, Paiboon said. A quorum will be four members instead of all five.

Nerisa Nerykhiew

The Nation