Party that nominated exprincess banned
BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court has banned the political party that nominated a former princess to run for prime minister, dealing a blow to Opposition forces vying to defeat allies of the militaryled government in the first election since a 2014 coup.
The court ruled that the Thai Raksa Chart party’s nomination of Ubolratana Mahidol, the eldest child of Thailand’s revered late king and sister to its current monarch, undermined the monarchy and was ‘‘hostile to the democratic system’’.
The party will be dissolved and its executives barred from politics for 10 years, judges said.
‘‘It is necessary for the Thai monarchy to stay above politics and stay neutral in politics,’’ Taweekiat Meenakanit, one of the judges, said. ‘‘Do not allow any opportunities for the Thai monarchy to be used for political purposes.’’
The party’s decision last month to nominate the 67yearold Ubolratana — a University of California, Los Angeles master’s graduate who relinquished her royal title when she married an American in 1972 but is still treated as royalty by Thais — stunned the nation and broke with a more than centuryold tradition of the royal family avoiding elected office.
It raised the prospect of the return of Thaksin Shinawatra, the telecoms tycoon and former prime minister who is linked to Thai Raksa Chart and lives in exile to avoid corruption charges. — TCA