If you were a fan of horror movies, you would never believe that a zombie is dead until it really dies. Even though a giant nail is pierced through its heart, a zombie always comes back to life to haunt you and grab your throat when you drop your guard. Thaksin, too, will refuse to die.

For the moment, Thaksin and his 110 republican guards are in disarray. They had anticipated that the axe would fall, but they had never thought that it would chop off all of their heads in a massacre on the eve of Visakha Puja Day. The "Red Army" and PTV threatened to strike back if the Thai Rak Thai Party were to be disbanded.

In the end, members of the Red Army were so tired and sleepy that they could hardly raise their fingers. They were worn down by a marathon 11-hour reading of the landmark verdicts by the Constitution Tribunal judges. It was not until 11.45pm that the rulings on Thai Rak Thai were brought to a conclusion. Chaturon Chaisang, Phongthep Thepkanjana and other Thai Rak Thai members listened patiently to the verdicts in the courtroom with their pale, zombie-like faces.

In one fell swoop, the Constitution Tribunal dissolved the Thai Rak Thai Party for alleged election fraud and ended its nine years of existence. It also handed down a 6-3 verdict to ban all 111 executive Thai Rak Thai members from politics for five years. Any attempt to disrupt law and order had to be put on hold because a few minutes later the country would observe Visakha Puja Day, the most auspicious and sacred day on the Buddhist calendar.

The Democrats were spared the wrath of the Constitution Tribunal's rulings. They put up a strong legal defence over alleged election fraud. You have to give the full credit to Chuan Leekpai, the former party leader. If you read his defence statement, you would feel mesmerised by his eloquent and persuasive argument that the Democrats never committed any wrongdoing. In the end, the Democrats were cleared all the charges in a unanimous decision.

On the contrary, the Thai Rak Thai Party fought a half-hearted legal battle, knowing darn well that they would be sent to the scaffold. Err ... the executive board did no wrong. If some members of our party did hire the three small parties to run in the April 2 election, then please do not blame all of us. But the money trails would not lie. General Thamarak Isarangura and Pongsak Ruktapongpisal were deemed by the judges to have financed the other three political parties, which distributed the money to their candidates to stand in the election so that the election, boycotted by the Democrats, Chat Thai and Mahachon, could fulfil the constitutional requirement.

If you read the verdicts of the Constitution Tribunal, you will find that they carry very harsh statements against Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai as if the judges were denouncing the Thaksin regime themselves. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai were deemed to have posed a danger to democracy through their corruption and cronyism. Most importantly, the rulings will become a benchmark for other courts to refer to when cases against Thaksin and his family concerning their assets go to trial.

With the Constitution Tribunal's verdicts, the Thai political landscape has been dramatically altered with a tsunami-like force. Abhisit Vejjajiva, the young leader of the Democrats, is most likely to become the next prime minister of Thailand barring any other accidents. The Chat Thai and the Mahachon parties stand to become natural allies in the forming of the new government.

But we shall see how the 200 former MPs of Thai Rak Thai in the North and Northeast, Thaksin's political bedrock, transform their role. Chaturon insisted that although Thai Rak Thai no longer exists, the Thai Rak Thai Group (Klom Thai Rak Thai) would continue to fight for its ideology. The Thai Rak Thai's republicanism will not die easily. Earlier, Chakraphop Phenkhae, a key member of the Thai Rak Thai Party, gave an interview during which he said that he joined Thai Rak Thai because he could not accept the sakdina (feudal) system.

Will Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra enter the political scene like Hilary Clinton to revive the dead soul of the party? But she would have to think twice because the legal case against her purchase of land in the Ratchadaphisek area is hanging over her neck. Boonklee Plangsiri or Dr Surapong Suebwonglee, the two confidantes of Pojaman and Thaksin, might volunteer to carry the flag.

There will be two remaining stumbling blocks to overcome before Thailand can return to democracy. First, the new constitution must be approved. Second, the new election must be held in due course, the sooner the better. Hopefully, there will be no bloodshed between now and then. You must have a keen eye to distinguish the bad guys from the good guys, or the Red Army from the Blue Army.

If time is allowed to run its course, the junta will have no choice but to return power to those they can trust most so that they have an excuse to return to their barracks. The junta and the Democrats share a common enemy in Thaksin. But earlier, we got the impression that some elements of the junta would like to linger in power by banking on the political bases of Somsak Thepsuthin and Dr Somkid Jatusripitak. Now this will never happen because Somsak and Somkid have also been barred from politics.

Suddenly, Abhisit looks like the only choice around. Now it is time for him to prepare himself by learning from the past mistakes of his predecessors, charting out his own political destiny, healing the wounds of the badly divided country, reaching out to the poor, who have been the bedrock of Thaksin's populist policies, and making Thailand a proud nation again in the eyes of the international community.

 Thanong Khanthong