Thailand’s Constitutional Court to consider legality of ruling party

Following last week’s general elections in Thailand, the losing Democrat Party has asked Thailand’s Constitutional Court to dissolve the winning Pheu Thai party. Thailand’s Constitutional Court, like a number of other specialized constitutional courts (e.g., Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey), has the constitutional power and responsibility to rule upon the lawfulness of political parties (per Part 13, Section 68 of the 2007 Constitution). Pheu Thai is headed by the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a military coup in 2006. The coup leaders also adopted a new constitution and reconstituted the Constitutional Court, which proceeded to rule Thaksin Shinawatra’s People’s Power Party illegal and is the same institution that is now being asked to rule Shinawatra’s sister’s party illegal as well.
The constitutionalization of Thai political turmoil should come as no surprise to readers of this blog. As Tom put it in an earlier post, “to predict constitutional instability in Thailand is like predicting snow in Chicago in winter.”