Thai ruling party must be dissolved: EC, Army Chief

BANGKOK: Thailand's coalition government teetered after the Election Commission ordered the ruling party be dissolved for allegedly concealing campaign donations and the influential army commander said he supports a new vote.

The Election Commission ruling and the army chief's opinion buoyed anti-government protesters who have demonstrated for the past month pressing for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's resignation.

The standoff turned deadly on Saturday when troops tried to drive away a large group of protesters, resulting in clashes that left 21 people dead in Thailand's worst political violence in nearly two decades.

In Washington, Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya lashed out at former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - whose ouster in a 2006 coup exposed the country's deep political divisions - accusing Thaksin of personally instigating the recent deadly clashes and calling him a "bloody terrorist."

Speaking on the sidelines of a global nuclear summit in Washington, Kasit compared Thaksin to dictators like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin and to the terrorist movement al Qaeda.

Thailand has seen three governments in the four years since the 2006 coup, and Kasit acknowledged that his country has "not found the right formula. We have not found the compromise."

"Thailand cannot go on behaving like a banana republic ... and become a problem child," Kasit said at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Thailand to embrace reconciliation.

"While Thailand continues along its path to resolve its political differences, we remain confident in the strong, enduring bonds between the United States and Thailand, our oldest ally in Asia," Clinton said in a statement.

In Bangkok, Thanis Sriprathes, deputy secretary-general of the Election Commission, told reporters that Abhisit's Democrat Party was found guilty of failing to disclose - as required by law - that it received 258 million baht (US$8 million) from TPI Polene, a cement producer listed on the Thai stock market.

The commission was scheduled to unveil its ruling on April 20, but announced it more than a week early without explanation. It came on the eve of a four-day holiday for Songkran, the traditional new year when many urban Thais visit relatives in the countryside.

Source: http://www.geo.tv/World.htm