Princess PM bid leads to dissolution of Thai party

Thai Princess Ubolratana. Pic/AFP

Bangkok: A key party linked to Thailand's powerful Shinawatra clan was dissolved on Thursday by a court, just weeks before a general election, over its ill-starred bid to front a princess as a candidate for premier.

Thai Raksa Chart, which is tied to ex-premiers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, proposed Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate if its bloc emerged with a lower house majority after the March 24 election. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, issued a royal command declaring the party's move "inappropriate".

Thai Raksa Chart was found guilty of committing an act "hostile to the constitutional monarchy" by the Constitutional Court, which unanimously voted to dissolve the party. Party executives were also banned from politics for a decade. The princess reacted to the news on Instagram, "I have heard the news. It is sad and depressing."

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