BANGKOK - A THAI court on Tuesday agreed to hear a case which could see three political parties including the ruling People Power Party disbanded, in a further blow to the protest-hit government.

The People Power Party (PPP) and two of its coalition partners are facing dissolution because some of their party executives were convicted of vote fraud after the December 2007 elections which swept them to power.

'Constitutional Court judges have agreed to accept cases against Matchimathipataya, Chart Thai and People Power Party,' a court statement said.

'We inform the attorney general and leaders of those parties to submit written defence within 15 days.'

After the submissions, the court will begin deliberations, but no date was set for a verdict.

The news comes a week after two people died and nearly 500 were injured in bloody street clashes between police and anti-government protesters, who were trying to stop a session of parliament from going ahead.

The crackdown was the culmination of a months-long campaign by protesters to bring down the government.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has said he will not immediately step down or dissolve parliament, but his position is looking increasingly fragile as a number of court decisions have gone against his PPP.

In one of those decisions, the Constitutional Court found that Mr Somchai's predecessor Samak Sundaravej had violated the constitution by taking payments for television cooking shows, and ordered him to step down last month.

Anti-government groups accuse the PPP of running the country on behalf of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra - Somchai's brother-in-law - who was removed in a September 2006 coup.

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party won elections in 2001 and 2005. Soon after he was overthrown, a constitutional tribunal dissolved the party, sending many former Thai Rak Thai members into the PPP. -- AFP