Thai opposition loses bid to annul election

[BANGKOK] Thailand's opposition yesterday lost a legal bid to nullify a controversial election disrupted by anti-government protests, in a boost to caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's crisis-hit administration.

The kingdom's Constitutional Court declined to consider the petition by the Democrat Party to annul the Feb 2 vote and disband Ms Yingluck's party, saying there were insufficient grounds.

"It gives a little bit of breathing space for the government but it does not resolve the deadlock," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.