国际英语新闻：Thai Constitution Court drops dissolution case against ruling Democrat

BANGKOK, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Thai Constitution Court on Monday decided to drop the dissolution case against the ruling Democrat Party, giving the reason that the Election Commission (EC) did not follow proper legal procedures.

The Constitution Court judges voted 4:2 in favor of the Democrat rejecting the EC's request to dissolve the party for allegedly misusing the EC-sponsored political development fund.

"The filing by the Electoral Commission is unconstitutional because the process was not done properly," judge Udomsak Nitimontree said while reading out the verdict.

The petition process was unlawful mainly because of two reasons: firstly the political party registrar not the EC is authorized to file the complaint and secondly the registrar could not file the complaint to the court within 15 days since it found the party's guilty, the verdict said.

Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (L) and Democrat Party Chief adviser Chuan Leekpai sits in the Constitutional Court room in Bangkok November 29, 2010.

Democrat was facing the dissolution case for being alleged to misuse 29 million baht (958,000 U.S. dollars) of the political development fund allocated by the Election Commission (EC) during 2004-2005. The party could be dissolved and its executive committee banned from politics for five years if the court had uphold the accusation.

However, the court's verdict on Monday saved the oldest political party in Thailand from dissolution.