Meeting of EC commissioners, Acting PM Niwatthamrong aborted as Suthep leads PDRC to meeting room

[SICHONSTEVE]

We will have to agree to disagree on that one Robbie - whoever took him out committed a good deed as far as I am concerned!!!

[mania]

Sadly it goes a lot further than "fixing elections"

I am not one for politics but it is sad to watch this over & over here.

How will it ever work? I don't really think it can

It is not a simple matter of red vs yellow

Obviously even a popular majority cannot ever win ever here like in most countries.

The minority will not allow it no matter which side is this years minority

Instead here even if a person is elected they walk a razors edge.

Because they do not have control of a military they do not have control of a police force etc.

Really they do not.

Instead they always walk that razor edge.

It is as if there are multiple governments within this small country

In other countries there is unfailing support without opinion of right or wrong.

They serve as their duty/oath dictates whomever is elected commander in chief.

Theirs is not to reason why

But here it does not seem to work that way at all.

Even if a protest turns ugly any PM will hesitate what to do for fear that the police will not enforce

or the military will yet again step in & create a whole new govt.

Very odd place & for the most part I ignore what is not mine to decide.

But at times I do worry about the future & if here is where my wife & I will stay.

So far so good & it is little more than news on a TV to us. But it does make me wonder

given what I said above how it will ever work for anyone elected or appointed.

As long as division remain in the core or power it can never function properly on behalf of the country

[city]

me thinks, no matter what other party would win the election, Suthep would still do anything to kick hem out...

yes he told so. He told that he would not trust the Democrats to make the reforms that are necessary to remove vote buying and corruption as they are part of the system.

So an unelected government which get afterwards banned from politics for 5 years has a chance to do it.

Please stop throwing that old chestnut in.....vote buying. It has appeared several times on these forum about a Democrat MP. admitting on a radio show that at the last election, the Dems spent more money than PTP. The Dems and Suthep are joined at the hip. This has nothing to do with corruption it about s........................ and being in power when it takes place. Numb nuts abound

[city]

Please lets have a show of hands on here. Those who believe the current political impasse is about a corrupt system please put your hand up....OKay...those with their hands up can leave now and we will contact you if we need you. The Thais know what it is about, the worlds media know what its about and even some farangs on here know what its about. Unfortunately many on here dont...no problem..keep posting

[city]

The brown shirts will do anything to have their way. Suthep has become little more than a pathetic pale pink imitation of a genuine reformer.

Maybe,but he is showing who is in charge,and it isn't the caretaker government

Suthep is not a man on a mission he is a man on a promise. Hes not worth lining up in the sights..pop him and another buffoon will take his place

[kimamey]

An election commission that does not want to organise elections! But I suppose we knew that months ago.

I wouldn't support Suthep's actions here at all but I don't see why the army couldn't stop the protesters. If they tried to enter the palace where the king is they'd soon do something. Another option would be to fly them up to somewhere in the north or north east. Chiang Mai or Udon Thani would seem likely places.

I think you need to educate yourself about the election commision. It's a commitee of 5 people. They don't have their own private army nor do they control the Thai army as far as I know. If there are attempts to disrupt the preperation for or conducting of an election there's not much they can do about it. That happened in February and money was lost. I would think if they gave the go ahead for an election they knew couldn't be completed they could be accused of wasting money. They have to be sure that there is adequate support from those who have to protect the running of the election for it to go ahead.

Why do you think they don't want to organise an election? They organised the one in 2011 and the one in February. They are also responsible for all other elections and referendums including for Bangkok govenor.

I guess you're one of those who thinks they're controlled by the Democrats. Seems unlikely as they called for them to be disolved about 4 years ago as far as I know.

[Mentors]

Little Duce in action. He can do everything and seems to be above everyone in this country

[kimamey]

Please lets have a show of hands on here. Those who believe the current political impasse is about a corrupt system please put your hand up....OKay...those with their hands up can leave now and we will contact you if we need you. The Thais know what it is about, the worlds media know what its about and even some farangs on here know what its about. Unfortunately many on here dont...no problem..keep posting

So anybody who doesn't agree with you isn't needed.

The Thais know what it is about

So you've asked them have you? Or are you so arrogant you think you know. I don't know but I know Thais on both sides and the anti government ones, including my wife are concerned about corruption. Maybe you'd like to tell her yourself that's she's got it all wrong and you know better. It doesn't mean that she agrees with Suthep or his methods but the initial reason was down to corruption and the government's on focussing on Thaksin despite saying they weren't. In pursuit of this goal they were prepared to offer Abhisit and Suthep amnesties from their charges relating to the deaths in 2010 which I'd be being generous if I said they were flimsy but that's the story they're trying to promote. They're also keeping the army from any investigation even though they fired the shots. That seems a lot like corruption to me. I don't know if any Thais think that as well but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

[leesgems]

Niwattumrong flees PDRC to hide in 'safe house', to leave for Chiang Rai Friday

BANGKOK: -- Acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan Thursday fled from protesters to hide in a "safe house" Thursday and has a schedule to leave for Chiang Rai Friday, a source close to him said.

Niwattumrong fled from the Air Force Auditorium in the compound of the Air Force Officers' Club after protesters led by the People's Democratic Reform Committee broke into the compound. The acting prime minister was holding a meeting with the Election Commission on preparations for the new election.

The source said the acting prime minister kept low profile in the safe house and did not go to work at his temporary office at the Defence Ministry.

He is scheduled to visit the people affected by quake in Chiang Rai. He will be accompanied by Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt, Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan, Deputy Education Minister Sermsak Pongpanit, the permanent secretary for Interior Ministry, the Provincial Administration Department chief, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department chief and the Local Administration Promotion Department chief.

-- The Nation 2014-05-15

same pattern as Ms. Poo, staying in a safehouse and off to the north since they might like him better up there.

I certainly hope he doesn't sprain an ankle or cry while making a speech.

[Robby nz]

me thinks, no matter what other party would win the election, Suthep would still do anything to kick hem out...

yes he told so. He told that he would not trust the Democrats to make the reforms that are necessary to remove vote buying and corruption as they are part of the system.

So an unelected government which get afterwards banned from politics for 5 years has a chance to do it.

Please stop throwing that old chestnut in.....vote buying. It has appeared several times on these forum about a Democrat MP. admitting on a radio show that at the last election, the Dems spent more money than PTP. The Dems and Suthep are joined at the hip. This has nothing to do with corruption it about s........................ and being in power when it takes place. Numb nuts abound

Korn said that the Dems spent more of the money that was allotted to each party.

There was no suggestion that any of that was spent on vote buying except in the minds of PT supporters.

[howzat]

Cowardly cowardly custard which trembles when shaken. Go home old man you can't hack it.

[winstonc]

Mini-Mussolini and his thugs are determined that the people won't have a say in how Thailand is governed, aren't they.

I think we should start calling him Pol Potbelly

At least Mussolini got the trains to run on time.

no he didnt thats an urban myth sir..

[Robby nz]

We will have to agree to disagree on that one Robbie - whoever took him out committed a good deed as far as I am concerned!!!

Don't know about that mate if he had lived there would have been considerable conflict among the red leadership which could only have played into the Govt hands, divide and conquer and all that.

And Thaksin would have had to come out and either confirm or deny which would in itself prove that he was in charge.

You also have to remember that S D was in charge of the men in black, the red leaders who were (are) no heroes would have been very shy of them.

Then at the final whistle S D would have been the one who was able to identify the MIB.

[rubl]

So what is the way forward? I don't think the EC intends to run an election. If they're sending representatives to discuss ways of appointing a Prime Minister, then they don't want to run an election, and the Suthep backer control the Election Commission.

I think at this point, the 54 parties that stood for election back in February, need to demand the results of the February 2nd election be released. The EC was determine to suppress those result, refusing to release the details of any province that voted until the South had also voted. Which is a violation of their duty to release the result within 30 days.

We'll then see how the voters responded and work forward based on that.

Some well meaning souls on here published nice tables about the 'preliminary' election results to prove that the Thai population wants Pheu Thai to continue. Do some searching for that and repost the link, please

[Fat Haggis]

Sensationalist headlines using the words "flee" one of the things you conduct as a close protection officer is risk assessment and have a plan B that gets your client OUT of harms way avoiding confrontation with an antagonistic crowd.

The CTPM security detail did their jobs just like they are supposed to do. Norhing wrong with extracting the principle to avoid a confrontation I've done it dozens of times, however all that people read is that the caretaker group did a runner, instead of "avoiding confrontation with a group that's openly trying to bring them down"

Well done to the security detail, the principles were extracted with Minimal risk !!

[rebelplatoon]

The whole idea is NOT to have elections yet. ONLY after the Election laws are changed.

Something the EC warned about and all opposing parties stipulated.

Elections can be held if the backward laws that allow a party -after being convicted of electoral fraud-

to change its name and just merrily join again are changed. As well as the constituents that have been

adjusted to fit the PTP have been changed such that they come at least slightly closer to what the

popular vote in numbers shows.

The DEMS for instance WON the 2007 elections but lost in seats:

They won with a slight popular majority which gave them only 165 seats

14,084,265 39.63 33

165

Against the PPP which LOST with a small minority which gave them 68 (!!!!) more seats, 233

14,071,799 39.60 34 233

This is what it's all about for all the people constantly shouting Democracy.

Hence, NO ELECTIONS until certain laws are changed.

Of course Taksin and his henchmen want an election first and THEN we'll talk reason.

[rebelplatoon]

Suthep continually claims to have the support of the people but continually refuses to go to the polls. How do you square that circle?

See my previous post please. The Dems won the 2007 election by popular vote but had

68 less seats than the PPP. That's what this is all about.

[ikke]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Don't stand your ground and talk, just leave hastily through the back gate... seems to be still the trade of Mr. T's cronies. alt=giggle.gif>

Run Rabbit run

Sure need to run... when violent thugs are trying to enter a meeting room, the educated ones will run.

I think you would stay, no ?

[valvenus]

After the sudden departure of the cabinet ministers, the protesters were allowed into the compound of the RTAF. The protesters said they would have lunch there

that was a cute touch

[citizen33]

Suthep continually claims to have the support of the people but continually refuses to go to the polls. How do you square that circle?

See my previous post please. The Dems won the 2007 election by popular vote but had

68 less seats than the PPP. That's what this is all about.

You've rather lost me here I'm afraid. This was the first election held after the banning of TRT and changes to the election rules that many commentators say were designed to reduce the chances of a Thaksin party victory. The number of seats was reduced to 480, with 400 elected from constituencies and 80 based on party-list proportional votes in the eight areas. Despite what many saw as a major campaign by the junta to make things hard for the PPP, it won 26,293,456 constituency votes (compared with 21,745,696 for the Democrats) and 14,071,799 proportional votes (compared with 14,084,265 votes for the Democrats). In respect of the proportional votes both parties got 30 seats. Overall the PPP got 233 seats and the Democrats 165.

Where did I go wrong in thinking that PPP received more of the popular vote?

I agree that the powers that be would like another shot at changing the rules; they know they didn't do enough to 'fix' the system the first time around.

The 2011 constitutional amendments increased the number of seats to 500 and the party list seats to 125. However, this did not result in more seats for the Democrats, as the 2007 results suggest might have happened. In 2012 PT got 15,744,190 proportional votes, compared with 11,433,762 for the Democrats.

Edited May 15, 2014 by citizen33

[fab4]

The whole idea is NOT to have elections yet. ONLY after the Election laws are changed.

Something the EC warned about and all opposing parties stipulated.

Elections can be held if the backward laws that allow a party -after being convicted of electoral fraud-

to change its name and just merrily join again are changed. As well as the constituents that have been

adjusted to fit the PTP have been changed such that they come at least slightly closer to what the

popular vote in numbers shows.

The DEMS for instance WON the 2007 elections but lost in seats:

They won with a slight popular majority which gave them only 165 seats

14,084,265 39.63 33

165

Against the PPP which LOST with a small minority which gave them 68 (!!!!) more seats, 233

14,071,799 39.60 34 233

This is what it's all about for all the people constantly shouting Democracy.

Hence, NO ELECTIONS until certain laws are changed.

Of course Taksin and his henchmen want an election first and THEN we'll talk reason.

Well, that's one way of looking at it. These are the results of the 2007 Election

PPP Dems

Popular vote 26,293,456 (Constituency) 21,745,696 (Constituency)

14,071,799 (Proportional) 14,084,265 (Proportional)

Percentage 36.63% (Constituency) 30.30% (Constituency)

39.60% (Proportional) 39.63% (Proportional)

Due to this election defeat in 2007, abhisit made constitutional changes to the organic act on Elections in February 2011. This included changing from multiple seat to single seat constituencies, thus reducing the number of Constituency seats (not suprisingly this meant the loss of 2 seats in the south and 11 in the north, suprise.) and increasing the number of party list seats, ostensibly to favour the dems as they traditionally do better in the Party List.

So the reforms have already been done by abhisit and he still couldn't win the election. You just can't legislate for being unelectable.

Edited May 15, 2014 by fab4

[lovetotravel]

Suthep continually claims to have the support of the people but continually refuses to go to the polls. How do you square that circle?

Polls are the least of Thailand's problems right now. Democracy is not just about voting. There's much, much more to it that just that.

[Asiantravel]

" If the Senate could not find an impartial prime minister by 16 May, the PDRC would stage another mass rally again, Mr Suthep said. "

this will be the final final final final showdown.............oh i have lost count

[retsdon]

It's all very well, but they're in the hold fighting over the gold while the ship of state sails itself towards the reef. The economy is ticking along, people go to work, etc, etc, bit there is only so long before the fact that there is nobody at the helm becomes a major problem. None of these people, on either side, are doing the country any favours at all.

[heybruce]

Suthep continually claims to have the support of the people but continually refuses to go to the polls. How do you square that circle?

Polls are the least of Thailand's problems right now. Democracy is not just about voting. There's much, much more to it that just that.

Right, real democracy comes from the leader of a gang of thugs announcing that he represents the majority. Just ask Suthep, or Hitler, Mussolini, Franco....

[srsv1238]

Not sufficient security at an Air Force base to prevent demonstrators from entering?? Hmm..................

Not if they want to avoid bloodshed.

What if this happened in our home countries? I'm sure there would be done bloodshed.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[anteater]

The whole idea is NOT to have elections yet. ONLY after the Election laws are changed.

Something the EC warned about and all opposing parties stipulated.

Elections can be held if the backward laws that allow a party -after being convicted of electoral fraud-

to change its name and just merrily join again are changed. As well as the constituents that have been

adjusted to fit the PTP have been changed such that they come at least slightly closer to what the

popular vote in numbers shows.

The DEMS for instance WON the 2007 elections but lost in seats:

They won with a slight popular majority which gave them only 165 seats

14,084,265 39.63 33

165

Against the PPP which LOST with a small minority which gave them 68 (!!!!) more seats, 233

14,071,799 39.60 34 233

This is what it's all about for all the people constantly shouting Democracy.

Hence, NO ELECTIONS until certain laws are changed.

Of course Taksin and his henchmen want an election first and THEN we'll talk reason.

You are a liar.

Samak's party (forerunner of PT) won that election by about 6% in the constituencies. It was only in the smaller proportional component that the votes were roughly matched between PT and the so-called "Democrats". The overall result was a reflection of the popular vote - a big win for Samak.

He didn't enjoy it for long because, as usual when Thaksin-aligned parties win, Samak could do nothing because he was opposed by the ammart, the Bangkok elite. He was kicked out allegedly because he appeared on a cooking show! No really! I suppose there was a clear conflict of interest: Samak was favouring broiled chickens at the expense of the nation's interests.

This could only happen in Thailand - the laughing-stock of the world!

Destroy the economy, let lots of people die, invade Government House - just don't let us have democracy.

[JAG]

Suthep continually claims to have the support of the people but continually refuses to go to the polls. How do you square that circle?

See my previous post please. The Dems won the 2007 election by popular vote but had

68 less seats than the PPP. That's what this is all about.

You've rather lost me here I'm afraid. This was the first election held after the banning of TRT and changes to the election rules that many commentators say were designed to reduce the chances of a Thaksin party victory. The number of seats was reduced to 480, with 400 elected from constituencies and 80 based on party-list proportional votes in the eight areas. Despite what many saw as a major campaign by the junta to make things hard for the PPP, it won 26,293,456 constituency votes (compared with 21,745,696 for the Democrats) and 14,071,799 proportional votes (compared with 14,084,265 votes for the Democrats). In respect of the proportional votes both parties got 30 seats. Overall the PPP got 233 seats and the Democrats 165.

Where did I go wrong in thinking that PPP received more of the popular vote?

I agree that the powers that be would like another shot at changing the rules; they know they didn't do enough to 'fix' the system the first time around.

The 2011 constitutional amendments increased the number of seats to 500 and the party list seats to 125. However, this did not result in more seats for the Democrats, as the 2007 results suggest might have happened. In 2012 PT got 15,744,190 proportional votes, compared with 11,433,762 for the Democrats.

Memo to Abhisit ('cos I'm sure it will end up being him),: Better make sure that you make a better job of rigging it next time.

[ozvenison]

The whole idea is NOT to have elections yet. ONLY after the Election laws are changed.

Something the EC warned about and all opposing parties stipulated.

Elections can be held if the backward laws that allow a party -after being convicted of electoral fraud-

to change its name and just merrily join again are changed. As well as the constituents that have been

adjusted to fit the PTP have been changed such that they come at least slightly closer to what the

popular vote in numbers shows.

The DEMS for instance WON the 2007 elections but lost in seats:

They won with a slight popular majority which gave them only 165 seats

14,084,265 39.63 33

165

Against the PPP which LOST with a small minority which gave them 68 (!!!!) more seats, 233

14,071,799 39.60 34 233

This is what it's all about for all the people constantly shouting Democracy.

Hence, NO ELECTIONS until certain laws are changed.

Of course Taksin and his henchmen want an election first and THEN we'll talk reason.

Well, that's one way of looking at it. These are the results of the 2007 Election

PPP Dems

Popular vote 26,293,456 (Constituency) 21,745,696 (Constituency)

14,071,799 (Proportional) 14,084,265 (Proportional)

Percentage 36.63% (Constituency) 30.30% (Constituency)

39.60% (Proportional) 39.63% (Proportional)

Due to this election defeat in 2007, abhisit made constitutional changes to the organic act on Elections in February 2011. This included changing from multiple seat to single seat constituencies, thus reducing the number of Constituency seats (not suprisingly this meant the loss of 2 seats in the south and 11 in the north, suprise.) and increasing the number of party list seats, ostensibly to favour the dems as they traditionally do better in the Party List.

So the reforms have already been done by abhisit and he still couldn't win the election. You just can't legislate for being unelectable.

I can't believe someone actually changed the constitution without bringing on street protests crying foul

And I believe the word is Gerrymandering

Edited May 15, 2014 by ozvenison

[Somtamnication]

And where was the police to arrest Suthep? Unbelievable!