Thailands main opposition party announced Sunday it was resigning from Parliament to protest what it called the illegitimacy of the government. The move deepens the countrys latest political crisis a day before new street demonstrations that could turn violent. Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said his party could not work in the legislature anymore because the body is no longer accepted by the people. The minority Democrats are closely aligned with anti-government protesters who in recent weeks have staged the countrys biggest rallies in years. The demonstrations are aimed at ousting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra,whose democratically elected government came to power in a landslide vote in 2011 that observers said was free and fair. The Democrats have not won an election since 1992,and some of their leaders appear to have given up on electoral politics because they cannot win. The protesters are demanding that a non-elected peoples council lead the country instead. Thailand has been plagued by political turmoil since Yinglucks brother Thaksin Shinawatra,a former premier,was toppled in a 2006 military coup. At least five people have been killed and at least 289 injured since the latest unrest began last month. Democrat leader and former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters the resignations were effective immediately. He said Yinglucks government has been illegitimate ever since her ruling party tried to ram through an amnesty bill that critics allege was mainly designed to bring back Thaksin from exile. Thaksin lives in Dubai to avoid a jail sentence for a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated.
