Bangkok Senator Seree Su-wanpanont said Article 96 of the Charter required the Constitution Court to rule on any case that it accepted, whereas a majority of eight judges on Thursday had decided to reject Thaksin’s case.

At least 125 MPs or 50,000 eligible voters can petition to dismiss the judges for violating the Constitution, he said.

The Democrat Party is deciding whether to present its own petition against Thaksin to the Constitution Court with regard to the sell-off of Shin Corp, his family’s business, party executive Sathit Wongnongtoey said. “We first have to gather information, and we don’t know how long that will take, because many jigsaw pieces are in the possession of the government or the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion,’’ he said.

The court shirked its duty to hear the case, he added, and whereas it has the right to demand information from the SEC, it has chosen to block access to the facts.

“Once the court declined the hear the case, it set a precedent for similar cases filed in an attempt to check the government. What I fear is that the rejection will stir up more anger among the people,’’ he said.

Sathit said the Democrats had written a motion of no confidence in Thaksin which would be sent for signing to the other opposition parties, Chat Thai and Mahachon.

The statement charges the premier with interfering in the work of independent organisations, abusing state power for personal gain, condoning corruption at policy level, breaking and evading the law, neglecting to protect public and state interests and mismanaging the government.

The 27 senators who brought the case against Thaksin held a meeting and decided to drop it even though the court had ruled that they could bring it a second time.

Senator Kaewsun Atibhodi said his group’s members nevertheless believed they had exercised their constitutional rights and if senators wanted to make other political moves, they could.

Seree said it was regrettable  that the 27 senators were giving up. He hoped other sectors of society would launch a bid to remove the court.

Constitution Court judge Nopadol Hengjareon, who voted not to hear the case against Thaksin, distributed his written opinion to reporters on the House beat. The leaflet said the senators had not provided proof to substantiate their claims.

“The senators’ complaint was vague, an allegation without substantial evidence,’’ the statement said, adding that the senators could not expect the judges to double as investigators and prosecutors.