BANGKOK - THAI police on Monday asked the military to help them guard the Constitutional Court, ahead of a ruling that could dissolve the governing party as protests against it shutter the airports.

The court has said it will wrap up its case Tuesday, as it decides whether to disband three parties in the ruling coalition because some of their executives were convicted of vote fraud after elections in December 2007.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat would also be barred from holding political office for five years if the judges dissolve the parties, which include the People Power Party (PPP), the biggest in the coalition.

No date has been set for the verdict, but leaders of a pro-government movement have said they may march to the court on Tuesday.

The coalition government is currently crippled by anti-government protesters who have seized Bangkok's two airports.

'Police have informed the army that they may need army assistance for tomorrow, but police have not informed us yet how many and where,' Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, the army's spokesman, told AFP.

Police spokesman Lieutenant General Pongsapat Pongcharoen said they have no intelligence that rival pro- and anti-government groups will face off, but have asked the military to protect the court in case any protesters try to obstruct the session.

Supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who are trying to topple the government, marched on Bangkok's two airports last week and forced their closure, paralysing air travel in and out of the capital.

The army has made it clear that they do not want to go in and remove the protesters for fear of bloodshed, while police also appear unable or unwilling to remove the entrenched PAD supporters.

Analysts have said that many Thais are looking to the court for a way out of the crisis.

If MR Somchai is forced to quit it could open up a face-saving way for the government to call new polls and the PAD to leave the airport. Mr Somchai rejected a call from the powerful army chief last week to call snap elections.

But in another scenario, PPP lawmakers can simply move to a shell party they have set up called Pheu Thai (For Thais) and continue running the country, while the PAD refuses to budge.

Thailand's constitution dictates that if a party executive is found guilty of electoral fraud, the whole party should be dissolved and the leaders banned from politics for five years.

The PAD accuses Mr Somchai of running the country on behalf of his brother-in-law Thaksin Shinawatra, the premier ousted in a 2006 coup who is living in exile abroad to escape corruption charges. -- AFP