BANGKOK, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and more than 120 members of his Thai Rak Thai party have resigned in a bid to remain politically viable.
Two weeks after a bloodless military coup removed him from office while he was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, Thaksin faxed a three-page resignation letter to Bangkok from his London home, CNN reported.
At the same time, as part of political jockeying, more than 120 other members of the TRT party, including Cabinet members resigned, the Bangkok Post said.
The ruling military junta has the power to shut down political parties and ban any members from political activity for five years, and the resignations were a form of side-stepping, said former House Speaker Sophon Phetsawang.
"If we resign before the party is dissolved and let the party gradually end its political role naturally, they might decide not to dissolve the party," Sophon said. "Then we might not be banned from politics for five years."
