The court also ordered to dissolve the PPP party and the other two coalition parties for the charges of electoral fraud. The PAD’s protesters regarded the court’s decision as their victory. Nevertheless, they vowed to return if another Thaksin-nominee government was formed (Hawkins, 2008).
Soon after the PPP’s termination, their members regrouped under a new political party name, the Phue Thai Party, to regain power in the parliament. However, the majority in the lower house voted for the opposition’s leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, a 44-year-old British-born, Oxford educated politician, to become the new prime minister (BBC, 2008b). Foreign journalists hinted that the first and most difficult work for the new and youngest ever Thai prime minister was to cool down the political tension caused by the division between supporters and protesters of the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra (Head, 2008).