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 After weeks of sometimes violent street rallies, protesters
dismissed her call on Monday for a general election and said she
should be replaced by an unelected "people's council", which has
stoked concern that Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy may
abandon the democratic process.
Yingluck insisted on Tuesday she would not step down and said she
would continue her duties as caretaker prime minister until the
election, which is set for February 2.
"Now that the government has dissolved parliament, I ask that you
stop protesting and that all sides work towards elections," Yingluck
told reporters as she went into a cabinet meeting held at an army
club. "I have backed down to the point where I don't know how to
back down any further."
Tears briefly formed in her eyes as she spoke, before she quickly
composed herself — perhaps a glimpse of the emotional toll of weeks
of protests.
The protesters, a motley collection aligned with Bangkok's royalist
elite, want to oust Yingluck and eradicate the influence of her
brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the
military in 2006 and has chosen to live in exile rather than serve a
jail term for abuse of power.
Thaksin was convicted in absentia of graft in 2008 but he dismissed
the charges as politically motivated. He is widely seen as the power
behind Yingluck's government, sometimes holding meetings with the
cabinet by webcam.
Yingluck, a 46-year-old former businesswoman, had no political
experience before entering a 2011 election she won by a landslide
thanks to votes from the countryside, where Thaksin built up a
devoted following with policies to help the poor.
In a speech to supporters late on Monday, protest leader Suthep
Thaugsuban gave Yingluck 24 hours to step down.
"We want the government to step aside and create a power vacuum in
order to create a people's council," said Akanat Promphan, a
spokesman for the protest group. Suthep has said this council would
be made up of appointed "good people".
By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, only 6,000 protesters were in the
historic part of Bangkok around Government House where Yingluck's
office is located, police said, a far cry from the 160,000 that
converged peacefully on the complex on Monday.
Tuesday was a public holiday in Thailand and Yingluck attended a
ceremony to mark Constitution Day in parliament but only about 1,500
protesters turned up there, police said.
"THAKSIN REGIME"
Yingluck's Puea Thai Party enjoys widespread support in the populous
north and northeast, Thailand's poorest regions. The party said she
would again be its candidate for prime minister.
In contrast, the protesters are drawn from Bangkok's royalist upper
and middle classes, including civil servants and prominent business
families, along with people from the south where the opposition
Democrat Party has long held sway.
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"What we're seeing is a true power tussle, with both sides, the
government and the protesters, trying to pull the country's two most
powerful institutions — the monarchy and the military — on their
side," said political analyst Kan Yuenyong at the Siam Intelligence
Unit.
"The best scenario would be if the protesters and the opposition
accept the election and take part, but anything could happen between
now and then, including intervention from independent organizations,
the judiciary or the military."
The politically powerful army, which has staged or attempted 18
coups in the past 80 years, has said it does not want to get
involved, although it has tried to mediate.
The spark for this latest unrest was a government bid last month to
force through an amnesty bill that would have expunged Thaksin's
conviction, allowing him to return home a free man.
Protest leader Suthep's overriding aim is to get rid of what he
calls the "Thaksin regime" — the family's influence on politics,
plus the people placed in senior positions in state agencies and the
police who are believed to answer to him.
In rambling speeches he claims Thaksin and his family have hijacked
power to serve their own interests, not the nation. But beyond the
need to bypass an electoral process likely again to return a
pro-Thaksin government, his program is sketchy.
He has spoken of police reform and the need to end what he sees as
wasteful, corruption-riddled programs such as a rice intervention
scheme and huge infrastructure projects.
Lawmakers from the opposition Democrat Party resigned from
parliament on Sunday and its leaders have not decided whether to
take part in the election. Some have marched with Suthep, including
Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was prime minister until the 2011 election,
with Suthep as one of his deputies.
In April 2006, amid mass protests against Thaksin, the
pro-establishment Democrats refused to contest a snap election he
had called. Thaksin was deposed by the military five months later.
Suthep's campaign opens up the prospect of a minority of Thailand's
66 million people dislodging a democratically elected leader, this
time without help from the military.
(Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak;
writing by Alan Raybould; editing by Nick Macfie)
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