Abhisit won't cast his vote in 'unconstitutional election' today

[Lite Beer]

Abhisit won't cast his vote in 'unconstitutional election' today
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday declared that he would not cast his vote today.

"Tomorrow, I won't go to exercise my voting right because this election is unconstitutional and it will not achieve the goal of an election under the democratic system," Abhisit posted on his Facebook wall.

He said he would not inform the Election Commission of his decision to not vote because it did not meet the reasons sanctioned by the EC for a voter to skip an election.

The Democrat Party leader said he decided to announce his decision in advance as he did not want anyone to cause trouble at the polling station at Sawasdee Withaya School in the Sukhumvit area where he normally casts his ballot.

Abhisit said earlier that Democrat members could make their own decisions on whether or not to go out and vote in today's snap election.

In reaction to the Democrat leader's statement that the election was unconstitutional, caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she discounted Abhisit's remarks as the 2007 Constitution was not written by her government but by the coup-maker-sponsored government. The Abhisit government also agreed with the charter and even the EC was set up according to the charter, she said.

Yingluck said she would go to vote today and asked the protesters not to obstruct the election.

"I have to beg the people that if they obstruct the election, we won't be able to answer the questions from foreign countries because the election process is a part of the people's basic rights and freedom," she said.

She said she had raised concerns over possible violence.

Yingluck spoke on her way to the Office of the permanent secretary for Defence to monitor the situation with some Cabinet members and representatives from the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order.

Yingluck's social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram said they would stop posting messages until 9am tomorrow to prevent violation of election law.

Meanwhile, Wiratana Kalayasiri, a former Democrat MP from Songkhla, filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombuds-man on Friday, asking it to seek a Constitutional Court ruling to invalidate today's general elections. He said the elections could not be held in a single day, which would be a violation of Section 108 of the Constitution.

-- The Nation 2014-02-02

[Red Snake]

The election could not be held on a single day because your cohorts blocked the delivery of the ballots which I am sure would be against the constitution. So damn if you do or damn if you don't.

[stickyrice2000]

Okay. Got the message. Next person for voting please !

[noitom]

Shameful attitude for a former PM and party leader. Where is his associate Korn? Will Korn be abstaining from the vote as well?

[boshidoson]

Abhisit: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three short years ago. Still as of today has not given a viable plan to reform Thailand. Did not perform his duty as a minister, now as a citizen.

Suthep: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three years ago. Has brought Bangkok to her knees outside of government when his duty as an elected official was to serve the people who elected him. The worst kind of hypocrite there is.

Thaksin: COWARD in capital letters. Ran away from a slap on the wrist jail sentence. He would not have served a day of that time for unspeakable crimes against Thailand. Sits abroad with his wounded ego trying to destroy that which he claime to love.

A Sad day for Thailand.

[Thailand]

I don't know if they have a picture of him at Oxford on their "famous old boys wall" ( I don't know if they have one btw).

If they did I guess it would be removed or turned face inward in disgrace.

[icommunity]

AV is a coward and a liar. This news report forgot to mention that AV's administration amended the 2007 constitution before 2011 election to give them the advantage.

[JoeThePoster]

the polling station at Sawasdee Withaya School in the Sukhumvit area where he normally casts his ballot.

So, voting will be definitely blocked there.

[Thailand]

the polling station at Sawasdee Withaya School in the Sukhumvit area where he normally casts his ballot.

So, voting will be definitely blocked there.

Certainly not.

Suthep promised there would be no disrupting of voting today.

[Boxclever]

Does anyone know how many polling stations have been blocked by the protesters?

[bkkjames]

Is JT awake yet? Would be interesting to see via one of his poll dances how many of those of us with spouses of Thai nationality are going to vote today?

[AryanicAristocrat]

These garbage Democrats and their leader is the cause of the social divide and problems in Thailand today. They have never done anything positive in their tenures when they were in power (not thru being elected but by planned default) and are the ones who first initaited mob rule in thailand (ie their affliate PAD then), and they too have been involved in not stop corruption practices supporting only their croynies, the thai hisos and the rich thai chinese. They never reformed themselves to serve the masses and to be ethical and now they have created this whole mess in Thailand. Its becuase of them, another terrorists group, the Re Shorts came into being.

Its time to really eradicate this lot (the Democrats) and thier core supporters as they are not democarst but terrorists thugs who are going agaisnt constituitional rights and democracy. (I am not a red shirt fam nor do I like the corrupted PTP, Thaksin and his sister but the oppostion then, failed to do anything constructive, only plaguing thailand to go downhill. Its time to eradicate the Democrats first including Suthep and then let the people concebtrate on putting pressure on the PTP to reform thru democratic means not terrorist means.

The Democrats used to be my fabs but now they only deserve my spit.

Thailand needs a better educated and democratic inclined oppostion political party that is not corrupted or controlled by the elites.

[Ve37]

Abhisit: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three short years ago. Still as of today has not given a viable plan to reform Thailand. Did not perform his duty as a minister, now as a citizen.

Suthep: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three years ago. Has brought Bangkok to her knees outside of government when his duty as an elected official was to serve the people who elected him. The worst kind of hypocrite there is.

Thaksin: COWARD in capital letters. Ran away from a slap on the wrist jail sentence. He would not have served a day of that time for unspeakable crimes against Thailand. Sits abroad with his wounded ego trying to destroy that which he claime to love.

A Sad day for Thailand.

Good for Abhisit Vejjajiva,...Good for Thailand. This is a Constitutional election, and the law also says, anyone who doesn't vote, is not allowed to be a MP.

Not fair about Thaksin,...it should be obvious that he could not have been protected in a Thai jail.

PDRC,...treasonous! Attempting to "capture" an elected PM goes against every decent moral standard in the civilized world. Especially a PM who consistently seeks an inclusive dialogue,...for example,..."Uniting for the Future" in Sept 2013, where the focus was on how all Thai's can participate in government. The PDRC not only refused to attend, but manufactured numerous lies about it and the presenters, and continue their Goebbelesque propaganda unchallenged.

PM Yingluck? Too loving of all Thai people. You cannot treat mad dog elitist the same as reasoning people.

[soihok]

Ok if AV won't vote, it's his choice not to do so. Fair enough.

Doesn't mean that 1000's of others should be denied their choice though should it?

[whybother]

AV is a coward and a liar. This news report forgot to mention that AV's administration amended the 2007 constitution before 2011 election to give them the advantage.

How did the changes give them the advantage?

[binjalin]

Dems amended the very same constitution when they were in power - so HOW is it unconstitutional???

what a hypocrite!!!

[whybother]

Dems amended the very same constitution when they were in power - so HOW is it unconstitutional???

what a hypocrite!!!

What does having amended the constitution have to do with whether the election is constitutional or not?

[Ve37]

These garbage Democrats and their leader is the cause of the social divide and problems in Thailand today. They have never done anything positive in their tenures when they were in power (not thru being elected but by planned default) and are the ones who first initaited mob rule in thailand (ie their affliate PAD then), and they too have been involved in not stop corruption practices supporting only their croynies, the thai hisos and the rich thai chinese. They never reformed themselves to serve the masses and to be ethical and now they have created this whole mess in Thailand. Its becuase of them, another terrorists group, the Re Shorts came into being.

Its time to really eradicate this lot (the Democrats) and thier core supporters as they are not democarst but terrorists thugs who are going agaisnt constituitional rights and democracy. (I am not a red shirt fam nor do I like the corrupted PTP, Thaksin and his sister but the oppostion then, failed to do anything constructive, only plaguing thailand to go downhill. Its time to eradicate the Democrats first including Suthep and then let the people concebtrate on putting pressure on the PTP to reform thru democratic means not terrorist means.

The Democrats used to be my fabs but now they only deserve my spit.

Thailand needs a better educated and democratic inclined oppostion political party that is not corrupted or controlled by the elites.

Exactly,...good post. But another point,...the PDRC has yet to substantiate any hate-based fabrication they spew. Even worse,... people are being media-ted by a ridiculous attempt at balanced reporting, which is nothing more than allowing unsubstantiated claims by the PDRC to be passed off as news.

Media: Stop pandering to hated-based, Goebbelesque PDRC liars, as if they have anything meaning to contribute.

Corruption to the urban elite is any time anything is given to the "Second Class" Thai's in the North, that upsets their enjoying 14 times more government services than those in the North; and thus any sort of equal progress for ALL Thai people will seem threatening (see World Bank statistics for Thailand).

As I wrote in another thread,...the PDRC sees Thaksin as a villain:

"Where Mr Kaona's nanny grew up, there had never been a water supply until Thaksin was elected. Because he was instrumental in getting the village water the PDRC said the villagers were stupid, it was a Thaksin trick. Thaksin is corrupt and just buying their vote (even though he was already elected). The PDRC says because Thaksin used tax money to pay for the villages water supply, that the whole Shinawatra family was to be hated. Although Mr Thaksin no longer lives in Thailand, all of his family and acquaintances are to be viewed as enemies of the PDRC.

However, the Elite's HERO is Mr Suthep: Rejecting every kind gesture from PM Yingluck, the anti-government hero Suthep was responsible for preventing hundreds of thousands their right to vote on January 26 (the actual estimate being 440,000). According to Mr Suthep, no one should be allowed to vote until his "People Council," an unelected group of his supporters, takes power and decides on "reforms." To put that in other words,...whereas using tax money to pay for a water supply is corrupt, the outright interdiction of peoples right to vote is heroics."

[Ve37]

Under election rules if the Goebbelesque PDRC do not vote themselves Sunday they will lose their entitlement to run in future polls,...and they know it. Maybe this is what they meant when insisting "winner take all."

[catmac]

Thank God for that! I was beginning to think that the little public school puppet had disappeared into thin air! If ever there was a disgrace to the world of politics it must be this man, devoid of any morals or backbone, kicked in the goolies by his own Deputy PM, and now a mere figure of fun. With him as leader, is it any wonder that any one of my cats would have more chance of being elected to Government than the laughingly named "Democrat" Party!

[binjalin]

Dems amended the very same constitution when they were in power - so HOW is it unconstitutional???

what a hypocrite!!!

What does having amended the constitution have to do with whether the election is constitutional or not?

because it is the very same constitution he 'could have' reformed but chose not to and the election is fully within that constitution

should you not be turning this on its head? the question surely is WHY does Abhisit say it is "unconstitutional" and WHY he and his thug Suthep did not put in reforms when they were in power?

Edited February 2, 2014 by binjalin

[whybother]

Dems amended the very same constitution when they were in power - so HOW is it unconstitutional???

what a hypocrite!!!

What does having amended the constitution have to do with whether the election is constitutional or not?

because it is the very same constitution he 'could have' reformed but chose not to and the election is fully within that constitution

should you not be turning this on its head? the question surely is WHY does Abhisit say it is "unconstitutional" and WHY he and his thug Suthep did not put in reforms when they were in power?

Yes, the question should be "why does he say that it's unconstitutional". The Democrats having amended the constitution in 2011 doesn't make any difference as to whether it is or not.

The Democrats did make some reforms while they were in government, but they were in power with a coalition government, so it wasn't simple for them to make wholesale reform changes. Even with the reforms that they did make, it was still difficult to get them through parliament with the slim majority that they had.

[kimamey]

Abhisit: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three short years ago. Still as of today has not given a viable plan to reform Thailand. Did not perform his duty as a minister, now as a citizen.

Suthep: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three years ago. Has brought Bangkok to her knees outside of government when his duty as an elected official was to serve the people who elected him. The worst kind of hypocrite there is.

Thaksin: COWARD in capital letters. Ran away from a slap on the wrist jail sentence. He would not have served a day of that time for unspeakable crimes against Thailand. Sits abroad with his wounded ego trying to destroy that which he claime to love.

A Sad day for Thailand.

I would have thought it was a bad move by Abhisit not to vote but he knows more about whether the election is unconstitutional than me so maybe he's right .

I don't agree with Suthep's tactics as far as I've seen them although i do agree there needs to be reform before elections.

As for being cowards, maybe but neither of them took up the amnesty offered to them over their murder charges.

As for Thaksin I don't think it's the 2 year sentence that's the issue but the other charges waiting for him.

[cmiuc]

well if its unconstitutional...then why can't we buy alcohol products? I think that is as official as it can come...

[cmiuc]

Abhisit: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three short years ago. Still as of today has not given a viable plan to reform Thailand. Did not perform his duty as a minister, now as a citizen.

Suthep: Coward, not interested in reform when he held the reigns of the government three years ago. Has brought Bangkok to her knees outside of government when his duty as an elected official was to serve the people who elected him. The worst kind of hypocrite there is.

Thaksin: COWARD in capital letters. Ran away from a slap on the wrist jail sentence. He would not have served a day of that time for unspeakable crimes against Thailand. Sits abroad with his wounded ego trying to destroy that which he claime to love.

A Sad day for Thailand.

I would have thought it was a bad move by Abhisit not to vote but he knows more about whether the election is unconstitutional than me so maybe he's right .

I don't agree with Suthep's tactics as far as I've seen them although i do agree there needs to be reform before elections.

As for being cowards, maybe but neither of them took up the amnesty offered to them over their murder charges.

As for Thaksin I don't think it's the 2 year sentence that's the issue but the other charges waiting for him.

I don't think if Taksin would have came in... i really think he wouldn't have come out... I believe already(in the past) they had 'hitmen' after him...that is when he dissappeared and nobody knew where he was... so imagine what prison life would have been? as they say in his case, "get the rope"... better for him.

whatever happen to Abhisit's murder conviction... conveniently went away?

If you want to know how Thai's feel about Suthep... go to facebook... one had is face placed on a crying baby face... another pic of him with a penis(ok to say?) coming out his head, indicating he is a d...head to most thai's... quit interesting what you find by the older generation thai's on fb(about this problem)... the kids are still indulging on how cute they look sticking their tongues out on fb... or how japanese fragility they can look...

[casindonet]

Do you guys reckon AV reads TV? All our positive & negative post are all meant for us expats only....do the Thais care, hell NO!! Just another fine day in Thailand.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[soihok]

AV probably is a TV member.

Edited February 2, 2014 by soihok

[tragickingdom]

Normally voters do not cast their votes for Abhisit, so it is probably just payback to the voters. Abhiist has no problem though playing unelected PM or sitting in a rubberstamp parliament after just another coup. But really who gives a sh** if Abhisit doesn't vote? He is a born loser.

[Scamper]

" Yingluck's social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram said they would stop posting messages until 9am tomorrow to prevent violation of election law. "

Probably the only time Pheu Thai has ever adhered to the law, and no one noticed !

Indeed, Article 108 will nullify this election.

[Yunla]

The sad part is we are even talking about Thaksin, Abhisit, etc. in 2014 when there's millions of smart and honest Thai people who could take the lead and represent people from all walks of life. The only hope is that these celebs vanish and new people arrive on the political scene, and are able to campaign on important issues for the future, instead of revenge-motivated issues for things that happened years ago. I would like to see for example a retired head-nurse run for PM, somebody who saved lives and alleviated suffering for decades. Preferably ugly as ditch-water and with a hard-headed resolve to tackle important issues. Or a retired shopkeeper, factory-worker, farmer, roadworker. Somebody with their feet on the ground. Anything except another media-ghoul, predatory tycoon or celestial bimbo.