Thai Election in Doubt as Protesters Derail Meeting on New Vote

Bloomberg News

Thailand's acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan was forced to flee from a meeting with election officials as protesters stormed the venue in Bangkok, casting doubt on plans to hold a vote on July 20.

Hundreds of demonstrators entered an air force compound in the north of the capital where Niwattumrong was meeting with election commissioners. The talks were scrapped before an agreement to delay the vote was reached, Election Commission Secretary-General Puchong Nutrawong told reporters.

The protesters are seeking to install a temporary, unelected government to replace an administration that has close ties to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. The government and its supporters are pushing instead for a fresh election after a Feb. 2 poll was blocked by the demonstrators and then annulled by a court.

'We may not be able to hold the election on July 20,' Commissioner Somchai Srisuttiyakorn said after the meeting. 'It depends on when we can next meet with the government.'

Today's protest followed an overnight gun and grenade attack on the anti-government group's camp in Bangkok that killed three people and wounded 22. The deaths bring to 28 the number of people killed since November in unrest linked to the turmoil, according to the Bangkok Emergency Medical Service website.

The benchmark SET Index (SET) of stocks fell 0.1 percent to 1,394.27 as of 12:12 p.m. in Bangkok. The baht declined 0.1 percent to 32.446 per dollar.

'No Election'

The caretaker government and the Election Commission had previously agreed on the July 20 poll date, though it was thrown into question last week when a court forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office on an abuse of power charge.

'We want to show them that we support the election as quickly as possible, but we want their assurance that it must be free and fair,' protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told supporters late yesterday. 'We want political reforms and want no election before this.'

Suthep's People's Democratic Reform Committee has staged a six-month street campaign targeting allies of Thaksin. They accuse the Shinawatras of crony capitalism and using populist policies to secure the support of rural voters, and want election rules changed to ensure a proxy for the family can't return to power.

Acting leader Niwattumrong, who took over last week, has said that calls for an appointed government are illegal and could spur further violence. While political reform is a good thing, it must be undertaken by a new government voted into office by the people, he said May 12.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net; Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net Tony Jordan