Thai court bans Prime Minister for five years

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded on Tuesday, spurring jubilant anti-government protesters to end their blockades of Bangkok's airports.

Government party members said they would switch to a new "shell" party, already set up, and vote for a new prime minister on December 8, setting the stage for another flashpoint in Thailand's three-year political crisis.

Chavarat Charnvirakul, a construction mogul and first deputy prime minister, was named interim leader, an official said.

Anti-government protesters cheered Somchai's fall after only 2- months in power, brought down by a Constitutional Court ruling that disbanded the ruling party for vote fraud.

Protest leaders said they would halt all rallies, including crippling sieges of Bangkok's two airports which have stranded a quarter of a million foreign tourists.

"We've won!" shouted one of the protesters, Angkana Wongticha, as members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) went wild.

PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul said they would pull out of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports at 10 a.m. (3:00 a.m. British time) on Wednesday, but the protest halt was conditional.

"If a puppet government returns or a new government shows its insincerity in pushing for political reform, we will return," said Sondhi. He had accused Somchai of being a pawn of his brother-in-law, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.  Continued...