Thai government insists no delay in Sunday election
Print Edition
Thailand’s government says it will go ahead with an election on Sunday despite months of street protests and an opposition boycott.
Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana made the announcement yesterday after a meeting between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the Election Commission, which had sought a delay in the polls.
The decision to hold Sunday’s parliamentary election will further inflate tensions and increase the likelihood of further violence in Thailand’s political crisis. A protest leader was killed and about a dozen others were injured in a clash last Sunday as protesters swarmed dozens of polling stations to stop advance voting.
Anti-government protesters occupying parts of Bangkok are demanding that Yingluck step down before any election, and that she be replaced by a non-elected interim government that would institute reforms to remove her family from politics. The opposition Democrat Party, which backs the protests, is also boycotting the election.
Yingluck’s supporters, meanwhile, are demanding that they be allowed to vote.
Several hundred protesters laid siege to yesterday’s meeting between Yingluck and the Election Commission. Two were injured, one with a gunshot wound, as violence broke out on the fringes of the crowd.
“The government and the Election Commission have different views on postponing the election; therefore, the February 2 election will go ahead as scheduled,” Pongthep said after the meeting.
A court ruled last week that the election could only be postponed by mutual agreement between the prime minister and the Election Commission.
“If we postpone the election, will the problems go away? The people who are causing trouble didn’t say they would stop if it’s postponed,” Pongthep said. “The longer it is postponed, the more damage it will cause the people and the country.”
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