virtualtraveller

This election will never stick, I'm willing to put money on it. There are so many flaws with it that contravene the constitution for a fair election. There won't be a parliament quorum for months. If a govt is formed the house will have a 80% dominance from the ruling party, that is a democratic regression. We should be asking ourselves if the Democrats decisions to boycott was reasonable, and for that ask the 500,000 people who took to the streets in the past two months. Better still ask the majority who didn't vote for a party in the last election. A govt selected through a minority process will never have legitimacy.

Tell us something new Walden, any one of 10 people on this forum could have written a background article like that on the crisis.

Truth of the matter is that many of these companies sponsor both major political forces. They hedge their bets. Out one and you may lose an ally. Tarit didn't think of that one but Thaksin likely did and must have had a word. Who says the elite are batting for one particular side.

It's a good point. Let's not bend the facts here. Everyone in Thailand (almost) supports democracy, but what sort of democracy is the issue of contention. Peua Thai's (or should that be Thaksin's) version is 'blank cheque authority to the winner takes all at elections'. Should they fall from grace one day, would they really propound that same ideology when their opponents win?

The last election was a fake election, without the main opposition taking part it will always be a farce producing a result of questionable legitimacy. The question remains; was the Democratic party reasonable to boycott, citing reform first because the election process and resulting govt pervert a true democratic status. Well, the numbers vindicated them. Even when everyone gets a chance to vote the reality is; THE MAJORITY opted to give this present democratic process the thumbs down. And since Peua Thai always harp on about majority, they should concede defeat and allow a reform process to get underway, and come to an agreement on future elections that will gain the respect of the majority of the people.

Fewer than 35% of the whole electorate appear to have chosen a political party, and less than 50% of the previous number of voters (2011) voted for a party. The no votes and boycotts are a very significant number.

Let the poor girl alone, she's suffered more than an appropriate sentence for smuggling a harmless drug. I think both her and the reputation of Indonesia are the worse for wear. We'll never get to the bottom of the truth, but it was great for Australia's ridiculous media circus, certainly sold papers and books. For 9 years of hell she can now retire on the book proceeds for the rest of her life, along with her family. Not bad.

If there's going to be a fight in a Chiang Mai bar, for whatever reason, it's going to happen there at Spicy. It's a rough after hours place, and fights between Thai and farang aren't uncommon when there's alcohol and pride involved.

And, yes, she's looking fat.

And yes, here's the truly surprising part, lots and lots of urban folk in Chiang Mai are not red - they hate this govt and are too afraid to speak up.

The generic viagra's aren't strong, in my experience the kamagras in pill form are strong (and possibly not as safe). Three would be too many, any more than one and it makes no difference.

btw men of this age dying of heart attacks during sex occurs fairly regularly here in Thailand.

And that looked like a pretty cheap short time.

I'm wondering how she can honestly say these things with a straight face, either she's incredibly naive or incredibly stupid or an outright liar!

Whatever the half truths and political spin, Abhisit always comes out sounding far more sensible, intelligent, composed and sincere that almost any other politician interviewed in English. Compared to Yingluck and Thaksin he wins hands down. Of course there are extenuating circumstances and justifications to whatever either side says.

I felt that this interviewer, Hasalinda had a combative agenda, couldn't help thinking she saw the whole situation as 'Democrats can't win election so boycott' and accusing them of spoil sports, indicating she is a poor journalist who hasn't done her homework !

Although in theory immigration can, willy-nilly, decide to throw you out, it has to be justified and if you can afford a lawyer I reckon you should be able to challenge this. Watch Sathit do so. Otherwise it's discriminatory, It would make an excellent article in the international press if a bunch of long stay foreigners here were thrown out because they happen to be at Asok when the protests were going on. Just silly, fascist!

It's good that they continue in denial mode, it will eventually help the rural Thai to finally realise that far from helping the country the Shinawatras are making life more difficult, hopefully they will vote elsewhere and put us all out of this misery. Thaksin insists on persisting with this scheme, it will be their eventual downfall. They've run out of money and are now unable to sell all the rice quickly for fear of flooding the market and getting a WTO complaint. So, unless they suddenly abandon the scheme to the open market they will continue acquiring more rice with no money to pay for it.

Guy reminds me of Chemical Ali in Iraq.

All meaningless, ask how much Yingluck's driver and maid have. Ditto Chalerm and Suthep.

My opinion...Anybody without rights to vote....cannot have rights to do any political activity.......even join any protests or political parade, without risking deportation...or at least some kind of problems if the protest becomes illegal or violent...In this case...this individual is not just a foreigner, its also a member of a public government institution participating in an anti-government movement. In my understanding....those are the rules, official or not, in most countries.

My opinion is that some who makes such a significant contribution to the economy, doubtlessly employing lots of people, investing, representing the business interests of much needed foreign investors etc, has a right to speak up.

No matter, he will leave, it will die down, he will pay and be allowed back in. His lawyer will successfully challenge this in the courts as discriminatory and abuse of power, he hasn't broken any law as per immigration act.

All credit to her. She's faced down Suthep and his thugs well. 80% of the country voted and probably overwhelmingly in PTP's favor. Thailand has chosen. Not oligarchy but democracy. That's a huge step forward.

Ahem! Which news have you been reading. Voter turnout, 45%, possibly 55% when bi-elections held. Minus no votes and a minority would have elected the next govt. Wait for results but early indications are that PTP will get far less than 15 million. Thailand has chose to show the Shinawatras the door. That's a huge step forward. No Shin Oligarchy.

No conclusion can be drawn until Feb 28th when further elections have been held, hopefully without obstruction. So, everyone had a chance to vote, or not or 'no vote', and when all is said and done I predict way less than 50% of eligible voters chose a particular party. In which case the election itself fails to produce a quorum an the resulting parliament is minority mandated. Nullify the election, go to plan B, reform first. You had your chance, you failed.

That's the risk you get from buying $100 tablets and expecting them to be good enough to educate children with. It's not economically sustainable. They forgot to look into that one.

Well fine yes, but if the govt offices, internet hubs, ports, airport, oil refineries are all out of your control, they would run out of money in a week. Didn't think of that one did you, mmm, and you get upset when people call you buffaloes!

For one, Noppadom is not even an official representative of this govt nor the Peua Thai executive, he is a member but mostly acts in his capacity as spokesperson for a fugitive criminal who shouldn't have any role in a democratic leadership. So, him putting out a letter says it all about their role in this crisis.

Dems letter is equally disingenuous.

Regardless, the UN would be pretty well briefed on the situation and why it's all gone wrong and why an election is unrealistic and why half a million people have lost faith in it. So, both these letters demonstrate childish politicians presenting half-truths to the UN, which demonstrates exactly why Thailand is in such a mess.

It's one point of view, with a new look at the the 'Thai Thinking' (well in Bangkok anyway) towards hegemony of power. That, really, is the crux of the anti-Thaksin obsession. Those who love and support Thaksin wholeheartedly are unable, unwilling, or unqualified, to see the danger of the Shinawatra Juggernaut in dominating everything about society, until you all become slaves to one family. They seem him for his chequebook. That is good, but the undercurrent of evil is overlooked.

Ultimately, if this is about democracy it's about a country not an individual, and if it's about power, it's about a careful balance between 'mandated' and the 'other' (opposition or the 52% that didn't vote for you). Thaksin (and his apologists) just don't seem to get this crucial point. All other arguments are just 'noise'. In that respect I completely agree with Race (the author).

It's unreasonable to expect the EC directors to work under duress, they have been trying to tell the govt that an election under such circumstances is impossible, and pretending that it's just a few spoiler provinces that can be solved later is ridiculous. There's barely an election poster up in my neighbourhood, except Puea Thai who only put theirs up a week ago. Utter farce. But fine, let Yingluck be caretaker PM for the next 6 months, they won't be able to disperse the usual money, it will hurt them the most. She's a lame duck.

Good idea. Let the scuffles begin.