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By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Constitutional Court on Friday opened the way to put off a general election the government has set for February 2, piling pressure on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who looks increasingly cornered by legal challenges to her grip on power. The Election Commission sought court approval to postpone the vote, arguing that the country was too unsettled by mass anti-government protests in the capital, now in their third month, to hold a successful vote. "(The ruling) is likely to be seen as part of the build-up to dislodge Yingluck from office, similar to what happened in 2008 but with higher stakes and higher potential for violence and unpredictability," Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said. In 2008, courts brought down two governments allied to Yingluck's brother and ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who now lives in self-imposed exile.More...