Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said today that he accepted the ruling by the constitutional court, which banned him from politics for five years and dissolved his party.
Somchai reacted calmly to the verdict by saying, "I did my best to administer the country."
Thailand's Constitution Court today ruled the three ruling parties in the coalition government -- People Power Party (PPP), Chart Thai Party and Matchima Thipataya Party were guilty of electoral fraud charges and ordered them to be dissolved.
The verdict effectively removes Somchai from his post as the government leader.
The verdict was handed down while Somchai was chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting in Chiang Mai, which he made a temporary government seat since his return from an APEC summit in Peru last Wednesday, as a civil anti-government movement led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) occupied the Government House, and then besieged the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in a showdown to topple his government, which the protesters said was a proxy of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.