Thai airports to reopen after government falls

Dec. 2, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)– Thailand's prime minister was ousted Tuesday after weeks of protests closed the capital's airports, stranding 300,000 travelers. Protesters promised to lift their siege, and international flights were expected to resume Friday.

The government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was doomed when the nation's Constitutional Court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud in the 2007 vote that brought them to power. Somchai was banned from politics for five years.

Somchai did not formally resign, as the protesters had demanded for months, but accepted the ruling.

"It is not a problem. I was not working for myself. Now I will be a full-time citizen," he told reporters in Chiang Mai, the northern city where his paralyzed administration has been forced to govern since Wednesday.

Protest leaders said the airport seizures would end Wednesday.

With the waning of the political crisis, the official in charge of Thailand's airports said Suvarnabhumi international airport will resume operations on Friday.

"Please have confidence in us," said Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, the chairman of the Airports of Thailand.

He called the flights a birthday gift for Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 81 on Dec. 5. The airport reopened to cargo flights Tuesday.

Officials
had earlier said the airport would not reopen for commercial flights
before Dec. 15, but Vudhibhandhu said he brought forward the date
because an inspection revealed the airport had suffered no damage and
could become operational more quickly.

After Tuesday's court decision, government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kau said the six-party governing coalition would step down.

Despite
the appearance of a smooth political transition, the ruling is expected
to widen the dangerous rift in Thai society that many fear could lead
to more violence between pro- and anti-government groups.

Late Monday, an explosive device fired from an elevated highway fell among hundreds of protesters inside Don Muang airport,
killing one person and wounding 22. The death raised to seven the
number of people killed in bomb attacks, clashes with police and street
battles between government opponents and supporters.

On hearing the court's decision, a cheer rose from thousands of members of the People's Alliance for Democracy occupying the international airport.

"My
heart is happy. My friends are very happy," said Pailin Jampapong, a
41-year-old Bangkok housekeeper choking back tears as she jumped up and
down.

"This is a blow for corruption," said Nong Sugrawut, a 55-year-old businessman at Suvarnabhumi.

Somchai
had become increasingly isolated in recent weeks. Neither the army, a
key player in Thai politics, nor the country's much revered king
offered firm backing.

But hundreds of
his supporters gathered outside the court, saying the swiftness of the
ruling — which came just an hour after closing arguments ended —
appeared predetermined. At one point they cut off the power supply to
the court, but electricity was restored with diesel generators.

"The
court is not qualified to make this ruling. They are nothing more than
apologists for the alliance, who are ruining the country," an activist
shouted through a megaphone outside the court.

Somchai's People's Power Party,
the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party were found guilty
of committing fraud in the December 2007 elections that brought the
coalition to power.

"Dishonest political parties undermine Thailand's democratic system," said Court President Chat Chalavorn.

The ruling sends Somchai and 59 executives of the three parties
into political exile and bars them from politics for five years. Of the
59, 24 are lawmakers who will also have to abandon their parliamentary
seats.

But lawmakers of the three dissolved parties who escaped the
ban can join other parties, try to cobble together a new coalition and
then choose a new prime minister.

Until then, Deputy Prime Minister
Chaowarat Chandeerakul will become the caretaker prime minister, said
Suparak Nakboonnam, a government spokeswoman. She said parliament will
have to pick a new prime minister within 30 days.

The protesters accuse Somchai of being a proxy of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
the alliance's original target. Thaksin, who is Somchai's
brother-in-law, was deposed in a 2006 military coup and has fled the
country to escape corruption charges.

Alliance supporters are largely middle-class citizens who say
Thailand's electoral system is susceptible to vote-buying and argue
that the rural majority — the Thaksin camp's political base — is not
sophisticated enough to cast ballots responsibly.

They have proposed discarding direct elections in favor of appointing most legislators, fostering resentment among rural voters.

The protest leaders have been charged with several criminal offenses, but are out on bail, and it is not known when they will be tried.

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Associated Press reporters Jocelyn Gecker, Vijay Joshi and Mick Elmore contributed to this report.