EC hints at poll date intervention (Thai)
Source: Bangkok Post
Clashes that claimed the life of one police officer and injured scores more on Thursday could force the resignation of several election commissioners and threaten to derail the Feb 2 election.
The newly-appointed Election Commission (EC) members for the first time on Thursday stressed publicly that the scheduled poll could not be held under the current circumstances. ''It is not hard to predict that the election will not be smooth, fair and transparent under the current circumstances,'' EC chairman Supachai Somcharoen said at a press conference shortly after the ballot numbers for party-list candidates were drawn. The EC urged the government to postpone the Feb 2 polls following the clash between police and anti-government protesters outside the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng where candidacy registration was being held. Protesters from the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand attempted to storm through the stadium gates to disrupt the ballot number draw.
Read more: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/386785/ec-hints-at-poll-date-intervention
For the last year the Shinawatra government under the puppet Yingluk has been focused on a single objective; getting amnesty for the convicted criminal Thaksin and getting back $ 2 billion that the courts impounded in corrupt gains during Thaksin's run as Prime Minister.
When the government finally submitted the widely hated amnesty bill it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and a group of 132 independent academics. The government announced that it was going to disband the Supreme Court and impeach all of its members.
At that time spontaneous demonstrations erupted across the country and a well organized independent movement took hold to try and rid Thai politics of electoral corruption for good.
The demonstrators massed in huge rallies and then dispersed in multiple locations across Bangkok so that neither the police nor the army could move against them (although neither showed any interest it taking action against the demonstrators).
The demonstrations used non violent occupation techniques and forced the government to call for elections by peacefully occupying different ministries and police headquarters. All of the actions were conducted peacefully and the police moved the barricades to let them in.
The protesters have won the hearts of the entire country in demanding reform and has been joined by students, academics, police, army and even the chamber of commerce. All groups have agreed that reform is necessary. All political parties have agreed and even the ruling party has agreed but they have stipulated "elections then reform".
The protesters refuse to agree to this and want an independent caretaker government (there have been such independent non aligned governments appointed in the past during times of political transition) and only after that have elections.
Today's events appear to be a major turning point as the protesters have made it impossible to proceed with the practicalities of selecting candidates until a) a caretaker government is in place and b) reforms have been instituted.
(my brother in law who does translation for all the major media outlets, including CNN was at Din Daeng yesterday).