July 14, 2008
Bangkok - Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej plans to go ahead with the constitution amendments so as to survive the political woes.
The effort is to prevent the courts from disbanding his party.
Under the charter, the courts can disband an entire political party if one top executive is found guilty of vote fraud.
Yongyut Tiyapairat, the deputy leader of People Power Party (PPP), was found guilty of vote buying last week.
Samak insisted he was not acting out of self-interest, saying that the main opposition Democrat Party was also being threatened with dissolution, according to AFP.
His proposal to amend the charter results in the street protests led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
Previously, Samak also proposed holding a referendum on whether to amend the constitution.
But there is no progress as the proposal is much criticized by the PAD, some Senators and Thais in terms of wasting the national budget.
