BANGKOK (Reuters) — Thailand's main
opposition party met on Saturday to decide whether or not to boycott a
February election and join anti-government rallies seeking to scuttle
the poll and force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra out of office.
Yingluck called a snap election on December 9 to try to ease
tensions as protests grew, but the movement against her is planning
mass rallies at sites across the capital on Sunday and remains
determined to bring her down.
Opposition Democrat Party lawmakers resigned from parliament this
month to march with firebrand protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a
deputy prime minister in the Democrat-led government that was
trounced by Yingluck's Puea Thai Party in a 2011 election.
Many members support Suthep's call for reforms by an appointed
"people's council" before any election is held and fear running in
the poll could upset supporters, many of whom have joined the
protests.
Others, however, believe a boycott would damage the credibility of
the party that is popular in the south and in Bangkok, but has not
won an election in two decades.
Yingluck refuses to step down and remains in charge as caretaker
premier. On Saturday she accepted reforms needed to be made, but
only after the February 2 election.
"The government realizes that the country needs to be reformed.
However, the reforms should run in line with democratic principles,"
Yingluck said in a televised address.
Yingluck's troubles escalated in November when her Puea Thai Party
tried to push an amnesty bill that would have nullified the graft
conviction of her brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, a
tycoon at the heart of eight years of on-off political turmoil that
has divided Thailand.
Demonstrators poured onto the streets in anger at the move and
though the Senate shot down the bill and Yingluck promised not to
re-introduce it, the Suthep's protests gathered momentum.
INFLUENTIAL FROM AFAR
Thousands marched in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday, demanding the
end of the "Thaksin regime" and the appointment of a body of "good
people" to run the country instead.
Protests against Thaksin and his allies are nothing new in Thailand.
There have been multiple attempts to oust the parties he controls,
despite an unassailable electoral mandate built on policies like
cheap healthcare, easy loans and a raft of subsidies that have won
over millions of rural poor.
Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 coup and remains highly influential,
despite having lived in self-exile since 2008.
He is reviled by a powerful minority of Thais — Bangkok's middle
classes, bureaucrats, old-money conservatives and top army generals — who see him as an authoritarian crony capitalist who exploits
democracy to cement his power and dole out favors for his friends
and billionaire family.
The Election Commission (EC) on Friday dismissed speculation it
would postpone the February 2 vote having earlier said it was
concerned there could be unrest at the polls and might delay them if
all parties agreed. Registration for the election starts on Monday.
About a hundred demonstrators marched on the headquarters of the
Democrat Party on Saturday to urge it to boycott an election they
say will be rigged and marred by vote-buying.
Yingluck floated the idea on Saturday of creating a "country
reforming council" after the election, which would include
politicians, academics and people from all walks of life, which
would be given less than two years to provide ideas on how to
implement lasting changes acceptable to all sides.
The plan is unlikely to gain much traction as it would take place
after an election that is likely to return her party to power.
(Writing by Martin Petty; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
