This follows ongoing deliberations by the Constitution Court over whether to nullify the controversial April 2 election.

The popular movement has said it will gather in Bangkok and elsewhere until the "Thaksin regime" is fully dismantled.

Chamlong Srimuang, one of the PAD's five core leaders, said the public should not be "complacent''.

"If the court nullifies the election, he [Thaksin] may lose more power. But we cannot be complacent,'' he said.

PAD leader Piphop Thongchai said that people would accept nothing less than Thaksin's permanent exit from politics. "We cannot accept it if Thaksin returns after the election is nullified,'' he said.

PAD leader and media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, said that he would hold a weekly political talk show every Saturday from May 20, featuring outgoing Senator Chirmsak Pinthong as a co-host.

"It will be educational,'' Sondhi told the crowd of 5,000 who gathered at Lumpini Park yesterday. People from provinces other than Bangkok, including Phetchaburi, Songkhla and Krabi, also attended the rally.

Other speakers asked whether the Election Commission should be free from responsibility, now that the full extent of the problems blighting the elections has been made clear.

Outgoing Senator Kwansuang Atibodhi slammed Thaksin and said that only Adolf Hitler could have called the kind of snap election Thaksin engineered.

PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila said that the mission was far from over and added that the Thai Rak Thai Party's opposition to the court deliberations suggested it was not heeding HM the King's advice.

Last week the King instructed the three top courts to help ease the political crisis facing the country.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation