The party of the Thai princess Ubolratana is to be dissolved. The Electoral Commission today announced in Bangkok to ask the Constitutional Court for the dissolution of the Thai Raksa Chart.
The candidacy of the elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn in the parliamentary election is said to be „hostile“ to the constitutional monarchy, the electoral commission said. Ubolratana apologized for the whirlwind over her candidacy.
67-year-old Ubolratana announced on Friday that she would be the top candidate for the Thai Raksa Charter in the March 24 election. After a public rebuke of her brother she gave up her political ambitions after only one day. The party withdrew the princess’s candidacy for prime minister on Saturday.
King blames his sister
Yesterday evening, the 67-year-old apologized for the vortex. „I’m sorry that my honest intention to help work for the country and my Thai fellow citizens has created a problem that should not happen in this age,“ wrote Ubolratana on Instagram.
The Electoral Commission officially declared its candidacy on Monday inadmissible and, by appealing to the Constitutional Court, took a first step towards dissolving the party. Ubolratana’s candidacy had prompted the king on Friday to a very unusual public intervention. He blamed his sister’s candidacy for being „inappropriate and unconstitutional.“ Normally, Thailand’s king does not comment on current political issues.
The party is close to ex-prime minister Shinawatra
The party Thai Raksa Chart is close to the influential politician family of exiled former prime minister and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was also Prime Minister before she was overthrown by the military in May 2014.
After months of political unrest with almost 30 dead, the Thai army had imposed martial law, deposed the head of government and seized power in the country. Thailand has since been ruled by a military government led by General Prayut Chan-o-Cha. He wants to play in the parliamentary election on 24 March for the party Phalang Pracharat, which is close to the army. In a candidacy for the Thai Raksa Chart the princess would have taken on the head of the military junta.
Critical transmitter taken off the grid
The state media regulatory authority, however, deprived a critical television station permission to broadcast. The station Voice 21, which is close to the camp of Thaksin Shinawatraw, was shut down for two weeks. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission NBTC justified this by the fact that several „provocative contents“ had been broadcast.
