Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday she will not be resigning ahead of the national elections that are to take place in February 2014. The Thai opposition has demanded that Yingluck steps down as the caretaker head of government.
On Monday, Yingluck had announced elections date after dissolving the lower house of parliament whilst the main opposition leader concluded a massive protest rally the same day. The opposition insisted its movement had now assumed broad political power.
The streets of Bangkok were quiet Tuesday, amid weeks of sometimes violent political turmoil as the protesters demand Yingluck give up power to an unelected ”people’s council.”
Spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi told the foreign agencies that the election date was proposed during a cabinet meeting in Bangkok.
Thailand has been plagued by political turmoil since the army toppled Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 coup.
The protesters accuse Yingluck of serving as a proxy for her brother who lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid jail time for a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated.