Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Friday dismissed accusations that the government was trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy with its bid to amend the charter, defusing a potentially explosive political situation.
The court ruled that the five complainants had not presented enough evidence to support their claim that the ruling Pheu Thai Party was trying to overthrow Thailand’s democratic system under a constitutional monarchy.
If the eight judges had ruled against the government, it could have led to the dissolution of the ruling Pheu Thai party and a ban on its executives’ involvement in politics for five years.
Leaders of the so-called red-shirt movement — which demonstrated in Bangkok for two-and-a-half months in 2010, leading to street battles that claimed 91 lives — threatened to come out again should the court rule against the government.
