Thai poll body urges disbanding ruling party

By Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Election Commission recommended on Tuesday that the ruling People Power Party be disbanded for vote fraud, dealing a further blow to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's shaky coalition government. In a unanimous vote, the five-member commission found the PPP guilty of buying votes during last December's general election and referred the case to prosecutors, EC commissioner Sumate Uppanisakorn told Reuters.

A final ruling by the Supreme Court could take months.

If the court agrees to disband the party, up to 33 senior PPP members, including Samak and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, would lose their jobs and be barred from politics for five years.

The case before the Election Commission stems from the guilty verdict handed down in July against a deputy PPP leader for vote fraud in December. He was banned from politics for five years.

Under the constitution drawn up by the army after a 2006 coup, an entire party can be disbanded and all of its executives barred from politics if just one member of the party's leadership is found guilty of vote fraud.

Thai newspapers have reported that the PPP is preparing for the worst and lining up a new "shell" party to admit all its MPs, who could try to cobble together another coalition government. If that failed, another election -- the fourth in four years -- would almost certainly follow.

Samak, who has rejected demands by leaders of a 100-day old street protest that he resign, declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Tuesday after overnight clashes between pro and anti-government protesters killed one person and injured 34.

The PPP won the most votes in the December election, due largely to continuing support for Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in the 2006 coup.

Thaksin skipped bail last month and went into exile in London rather than face a corruption trial involving him and his wife. State prosecutors have begun the lengthy process of trying to extradite him.

(Writing by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettler)