JURIST - Paper Chase: Thailand Supreme Court dismisses election challenges

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Thailand Friday rejected the major legal challenges brought against last month's election results. The ruling frees the People Power Party (PPP), which won 233 out of 480 parliament seats in the first election since the current interim military-backed government came to power in a September 2006 bloodless coup [JURIST report], to begin setting up a coalition government. The court dismissed claims that electoral laws had been violated, as well as accusations by a candidate from the rival Democrat Party that the PPP was an illegal front for ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who has been banned from Thai politics for five years.

The PPP is composed by members of Shinawatra's dissolved Thai Rak Thai party [JURIST report]. The government had been investigating 62 other winning candidates from the PPP, but the Election Commission of Thailand [official website, in Thai] announced after Friday's court ruling that it had certified the victories of 460 of the 480 members of parliament. AFP has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

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