By Pracha Hariraksapitak
UDON THANI, Thailand (Reuters) - Thailand's ruling PeoplePower Party (PPP) said on Tuesday it would renominate PrimeMinister Samak Sundaravej as premier if a court disqualifiedhim for hosting TV cooking shows while in office.
"We believe the court will give us justice, but if thecourt rules otherwise, we will nominate Mr. Samak as the primeminister again," PPP spokesman Kudeb Saikrachang told Reuters.
"The majority of the PPP think that he is still qualifiedto be prime minister. He is no longer a TV show host andremains the party leader," he said.
If found guilty of conflict of interest, Samak will have tostep down along with his cabinet.
The PPP's continued support for Samak, which renders thecourt decision largely irrelevant, is likely to outrageprotesters barricaded inside Samak's Government House compoundfor the last two weeks demanding his resignation.
Analysts had expected Thai markets to react positively to acourt ruling against Samak, seeing it as a possible short-termsolution to three years of political turmoil.
That is unlikely now to be the case.
The main gripe of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD)is that Samak is a puppet of Thaksin Shinawatra, who wasremoved as PM by the army in a 2006 coup.
However, the PAD, a hodgepodge group of royalistbusinessmen, academics and activists united by their hatred ofThaksin, thought they had cornered Samak on conflict ofinterest charges for hosting the commercial TV cookingprogrammes while in office.
The Constitutional Court is expected to give its ruling at2 p.m. (8 a.m. British time), a little over 24 hours afterSamak testified in his own defence, denying any wrongdoing asthe star of "Tasting, Grumbling" and "Touring at 6 a.m.".
"I have done nothing wrong," he told the court on Monday,suggesting the case was politically motivated.
He gave up the show in April, more than two months afterbecoming prime minister.
The speed of the verdict surprised both the government andanalysts.
Samak was in the northeastern province of Udon Thani onTuesday, chairing a "mobile" weekly cabinet meetingnecessitated by the protest blockade on his offices.
At a pro-government rally on Monday evening in the town, astronghold for his seven-month old government, the pugnacious73-year-old vowed not to resign or call a snap election.
"I declare that I will not dissolve parliament. I will notquit. I will fight on," he told thousands of cheeringsupporters.
STANDOFF
The standoff between the government and PAD has paralysedadministration decision-making at a time of slowing economicgrowth and high inflation.
It has also scared away visitors to the "Land of Smiles",with airlines and hotels reporting cancellations as morecountries issue travel warnings in the wake of Samak'sdeclaration last week of a state of emergency.
The tension spilt over into bloodshed last week when a manwas killed in a street battle between pro- and anti-governmentgroups, trigging a declaration of a state of emergency fromSamak that the highly politicised army chose to ignore.
Two years after its removal of Thaksin in a coup, the armyhas insisted it will not intervene again, but senior officersacknowledge the political crisis has reached a stalemate.
If the deadlock continues or more people are hurt orkilled, the crisis could also trigger a move by revered KingBhumibol Adulyadej, who has stepped into several disputesduring his six decades on the throne.
In 2006, when Thaksin was facing a prolonged campaign bythe PAD, the king summoned the country's top judges to tellthem to resolve the political "mess" after the oppositionboycotted a general election, rendering the result void.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan)
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler andBill Tarrant)
