Thai panel upholds election fraud finding

Thailand's Election Commission has upheld the investigation finding parliament Speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat guilty of election fraud.

The panel will ask the nation's Supreme Court to ban Yongyuth from politics, a commission official said Tuesday. Yongyuth was accused of bribing local officials to campaign for votes for the People Power Party in a northern province, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The decision could lead to an investigation into election fraud allegations against the People Power Party, the coalition government's largest party. An investigation could lead to the party's dissolution, the Journal said.

The People Power Party, supported by ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is the largest party in the coalition government formed after Thailand's first elections since a bloodless coup in September 2006.

Thaksin, who has spent 17 months in exile, is to return to Thailand Thursday to face corruption charges.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International