BANGKOK – Thailand’s prime minister said on Friday he would dissolve the lower house of parliament by early May for what is expected to be a hard-fought election in the politically divided nation. The move would pave the way for a vote in late June or early July as by law polls must be held between 45 and 60 days after house dissolution.
“It’s about time for voters to decide what they really want,” Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters. “I believe that an election is crucial for people to decide the direction of politics,” he said. “Many people do not want to see any more unrest and want to move ahead.” Thai society remains bitterly divided following the country’s worst civil violence in decades last year.
Abhisit, the British-born, Oxford-educated head of the establishment Democrat Party, must call a vote by the end of this year, when his term finishes, but he has repeatedly said he favours early polls. The head of the country’s election commission, Apichart Sukhagganond, told reporters Friday he believed a June election would be best.
Abhisit defied sceptics last year to survive a crippling political crisis, which saw a series of street clashes between anti-government protesters and armed troops in central Bangkok in April and May. The mass protests by the “Red Shirt” opposition movement – which was seeking immediate elections – left more than 90 people dead, mostly civilians.
At the height of the crisis, Abhisit proposed holding a poll in November 2010 to resolve the stand-off, but abandoned the plan because demonstrators refused to disperse. The Red Shirts view Abhisit’s government as undemocratic because it came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote with the backing of the military after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.
The red-clad movement, which is broadly loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has held a series of peaceful one-day rallies in the capital in recent weeks.
