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| Key Thai party cleared of fraud | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Thailand's Constitutional Court has acquitted the Democrat Party of all charges of violating the country's election laws. | Thailand's Constitutional Court has acquitted the Democrat Party of all charges of violating the country's election laws. |
| If the party had been found guilty, it could have been disbanded and its leaders banned from politics. | If the party had been found guilty, it could have been disbanded and its leaders banned from politics. |
| The judges now have to consider similar charges against the Democrats' main rival, the Thai Rak Thai Party, and its former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. | The judges now have to consider similar charges against the Democrats' main rival, the Thai Rak Thai Party, and its former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. |
| Police are on standby in Bangkok amid fears of violence at the verdicts. | Police are on standby in Bangkok amid fears of violence at the verdicts. |
| The country's interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who was installed after Mr Thaksin was ousted in a coup last September, said he would issue an emergency decree if necessary to quell any unrest. | |
| Damaged democracy | |
| The Constitutional Court ruled that the Democrat Party neither slandered Mr Thaksin nor urged voters to cast a "no" vote in last year's controversial election campaign, which was subsequently annulled over allegations of electoral fraud. | |
| The judges also found the Democrats not guilty of bribing a smaller party to influence the results of the poll. | |
| Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party could be disbanded"There are no legal grounds to disband" the Democratic Party, one judge concluded. | |
| But a series of charges threatening the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai remain to be decided, and a verdict is expected later on Wednesday. | |
| The now exiled Mr Thaksin - Thai Rak Thai's founder and former leader - together with other prominent politicians, could be barred from office for five years if the judges find them guilty of fraud. | |
| Whatever the court's final verdict, it is unlikely to clear the air in what is already a damaged democracy, the BBC's Asia correspondent Andrew Harding says. | |
| There are fears that a ruling against Thai Rak Thai might prompt street demonstrations, and a former Thai Rak Thai deputy has already threatened to mobilise thousands of protesters if the court rules against it. | |
| But if Thai Rak Thai is not disbanded, analysts fear that the justification for the military coup which ousted the party and its leader would be undermined. | |
| Mr Thaksin and Thai Rak Thai remain hugely popular, particularly in rural areas of Thailand, and the credibility of the interim government installed by the military coup leaders is increasingly on the line. |