In its heyday, the party headquarters of Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais), the electoral machine built by Thaksin Shinawatra, was at the beating heart of Thai politics. Behind its sliding glass doors, party executives plotted their next move. Luxury sedans purred in the car park below the downtown tower block. Reporters waited breathlessly in the packed media centre for the next grandiose announcement.
Today, the party is withering on the vine, untended by Mr Thaksin, its billionaire benefactor, who resigned as chairman last October after the September 19 military coup. The aura of brash invincibility that once clung to the party has gone, along with most of its political heavyweights and financiers. These days, the media centre is usually empty.
Given the military regime's recent orders to stop broadcasts featuring Mr Thaksin and his aides, it's no surprise. More media attention is being paid to proceedings at the Constitutional Tribunal, where Thai Rak Thai went on trial this week for alleged electoral fraud during last April's ballot. Party executives are accused of bribing smaller parties to contest the election and falsifying candidate filings. The snap election, which the main opposition parties boycotted, was later annulled.
The trial is expected to last three months. The opposition Democrat Party is also contesting a lesser case related to its conduct during last year's poll. Executives from both parties have denied the charges.
If found guilty, Thai Rak Thai is likely to be dissolved, capping a remarkable boom-bust cycle. Founded in July 1998, Thai Rak Thai had 23 founding members, including Mr Thaksin, who ran its operations from his corporate offices. The party drew interest from Thailand's aggrieved tycoons, who were chafing under International Monetary Fund-imposed reforms rolled out by a Democrat-led coalition. But its ranks also included academics, retired officials and social activists pushing a rural development agenda.
In 2001 it contested its first election and romped in ahead of the other parties to form a new government. A second election in 2005 handed Thai Rak Thai a landslide majority, to the dismay of influential critics of Mr Thaksin's leadership. The resulting tensions spilled over last year into a bitter campaign to oust him that climaxed with the bloodless coup.