Thailand's Constitutional Court said it would decide on Thursday whether to accept a case against holding February 2 election that would almost certainly extend the government's shaky grip on power as protesters try to force it from office.
The government declared a 60-day state of emergency from Wednesday hoping to prevent an escalation in protests which have extended over three months. That decree will face a fresh test on Thursday when popular anti-government firebrand Suthep Thaugsuban will lead a march through Bangkok.
A leading pro-government activist was shot and wounded on Wednesday in Thailand's northeast, a stronghold of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in what police said was a political attack, adding to fears that violence could spread.
Nine people have died and dozens have been wounded in violence, including two grenade attacks in the capital last weekend.
The Election Commission, which has asked for a ruling on the election, argues that the country is in too volatile a state to sensibly hold a national vote and that technicalities mean it is bound to result in a parliament with too few MPs to form a quorum and approve a legitimate government.
"Around 1pm today [Thursday], the court will decide whether the case would be accepted," Constitutional Court Secretary General Chaowana Trimas.
The government counters that the decree to hold the election on that date has been signed by the king and cannot be changed.
The opposition says it will boycott the vote. Suthep wants democracy suspended so that an appointed "people's council" can push through electoral and political changes.
A ruling in favour of the Election Commission would deepen Thailand's political quagmire, already weighing on investor enthusiasm for Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
The protests are the latest eruption in a political conflict that has gripped the country for eight years.
Broadly, it pits the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poorer supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the military in 2006.
