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BANGKOK - THAILAND'S ruling coalition will continue to enjoy a comfortable majority in parliament despite three of its six parties having some MPs barred from politics by the courts on Tuesday.
The court ruling disbanded the three parties and barred 31 of their leaders from politics, but this does not mean a general election needs to be held.
MPs that escaped the ban will simply move to 'shell' parties already set up, and will form a new coalition government, spokesman Nattawut Saikuar said.
The new coalition will command 283 parliamentary seats versus the 165 for the opposition Democrats, a parliament official said. Before Tuesday's verdict, the six-party coalition had 314 seats. The coalition has vowed to stick together, and announced that it wants parliament to meet on Dec 8 to select a new prime minister.
The number of seats, according parliament officials, for each party is as follows:
PARTY PRE-DEC 2 SEATS POST-DEC 2 SEATS People Power 231 219 Chart Thai 34 15 Matchima Thipataya 11 11 Puea Pandin 24 24 Ruamjaithai Chart Pattana 9 9 Pracharat 5 5 TOTAL 314 283 Democrat 165 165 GRAND TOTAL 479 448
Note: The first three parties were disbanded and their leaders were barred from politics for five years by the court for electoral fraud. -- REUTERS
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