Thailand’s fractious parties meet to discuss new elections
Polarised political factions are meeting in Bangkok to seek a way forward after disrupted elections and weeks-long street protests have undermined the government
Thailand’s quarrelling political parties meet on Tuesday to discuss a roadmap to fresh elections following months of deadly street protests aimed at toppling Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The kingdom has been without a fully functioning government or parliament since December, and an election held in February was declared invalid after opposition demonstrators disrupted voting.
The Southeast Asian nation has been shaken by months of political violence that has left 25 people dead and hundreds wounded, including many protesters, in grenade attacks and shootings.
“[The meeting is] the most opportune time to put aside our party views and put our country first”
Election officials called a meeting for Tuesday to discuss a new election date with political rivals including the main opposition Democrat Party, which boycotted the last round of voting.
But on the eve of the meeting, Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party decried a “conspiracy” by her opponents to thwart new polls.
In a statement, the party said certain groups and political parties “don’t want democracy” and are seeking to create a political vacuum so they can appoint their own unelected leader.
Puea Thai says the constitution requires new elections to be held 45-60 days after the Constitutional Court’s annulment of the previous vote which took effect on March 27.
But Yingluck, who won a landslide election victory in 2011, could be removed from office within weeks in connection with two legal cases under consideration by the Constitutional Court and an anti-corruption panel.