Democracy Groups Call For Postponement Of Election

[george]

Democracy groups call for postponement of election

BANGKOK: -- Democracy activists today joined calls for the general election to be postponed until the end of February in order for Thailand to recover from the aftermath of last week's tsunamis.

Mr. Suriyasai Katasila, Secretary-General of the Democracy Campaign Committee, said that the next general election should be put off until 27 February in order that both the public and the private sectors could concentrate on easing the situation in the six southern provinces affected by the tsunamis--Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun-- before the launch of election campaigns.

Describing the tsunamis as a disaster that had affected the entire nation, he said that the original election date of 6 February would not give time for election preparations.

Although the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) has considered delaying the election until 13 February, Mr. Suriyasai said that a mere one week's postponement would make little difference.

He also called on political parties to place issues concerning environmental resources in their election manifestos, saying that last week's disaster necessitated an overhaul of policies to include issues involving the revival of the affected provinces.

--TNA 2005-01-02