Will Thailands caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra see his long run of luck continue?
That question looms large after a ruling this week by the Election Commission against Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai- TRT) party. Thaksin’s capacity to survive crises that threatened to destroy his political career during the over five-year period he has been in office since January 2001 has been one among many remarkable features of his rule. But the flurry of legal cases the TRT are up against around the disputed – and then annulled – Apr. 2 parliamentary poll suggest that such a run of good fortune may be drying out. The Election Commission’s ruling that the TRT had violated two of the country’s electoral laws, including alleged bribery, during the campaign leading up to the April poll is the latest threat to Thaksin’s and the TRT’s staying power. If found guilty in the courts, the TRT will have to be disbanded – as required by law – and Thaksin, as the party’s leader, could end up being barred from forming a new party for five years. This latest twist in a continuing poli
