Anti-government protesters raid EC-govt meeting on Thai polls

[webfact]

POLITICS
Anti-government protesters raid EC-govt meeting on polls
Prapasri Osathanon,
Anapat Deechuay,
Jeerapong Prasertpolkrung
The Nation


Anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban shakes hands with a senior Air Force officer after leading a large group of protesters into the Royal Thai Air Force Academy to look for acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan yesterday.

All signs point to July 20 election being delayed as deadline for Royal Decree nears

BANGKOK: -- The likelihood of the July 20 election being delayed became clear yesterday when a meeting between the government and the Election Commission (EC) on the issue had to be aborted when anti-government protesters, led by People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, stormed the venue.

The government-EC meeting, which was initially scheduled for Wednesday, was moved to yesterday with the venue changed from the EC headquarters - which is near a PDRC rally site - to an auditorium at the Royal Thai Air Force Academy.

Election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said that before the meeting could discuss details of the poll, security officials informed participants that protesters had stormed the compound.

He said government representatives walked out of the room right away, without scheduling another meeting, adding that he the issue might be discussed via teleconferencing.

The commissioner also said this disruption might cause the election to be postponed from the previously agreed July 20 date.

Caretaker PM's Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn acknowledged that the failure to reach an agreement and clarify details yesterday meant the election would have to be delayed, adding that the government believes it should be held a week after July 20.

The law requires the Royal Decree on an election to be announced at least 60 days before the polling date, which means that if the election were to be held on July 20, the decree would have to be announced by next Tuesday at the latest.

Suthep and other PDRC leaders, including Satit Wongnongtaey, Witthaya Kaewparadai and Taworn Senneam, led protesters in vehicles to besiege the Royal Thai Air Force's Kantarat Auditorium where acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan was meeting the EC.

The protesters rallied outside the auditorium and surrounded its gates in an attempt to stop Niwattumrong leaving. However, the prime minister and other Cabinet members along with EC members managed to get away before the protesters broke into the compound at 10.50am.

The meeting, which was closed to the media, had been running for about 20 minutes before it was aborted when the protesters entered the compound and surrounded the building. Police guarding the stairways blocked them from entering the building.

After the commotion ended, Group Captain Rawin Thanomsing, deputy spokesman of the Air Force’s Civilian Affairs Division, came out to speak to Suthep.

Suthep told him that he did not want to bring the meeting to an end, but just wanted to speak to the acting prime minister about finding a "solution" for the country.

Later, Suthep took his group to meet the five Election Commission members at the commission's headquarters at the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road.

At that meeting, Somchai asked Suthep if he would agree to stop protesting for three to four months in order for the elections to go ahead.

He said that if all groups agreed to stop protesting and if the caretaker government allowed officials to do their jobs without interfering or doing anything that would benefit any particular group in the upcoming election, then the EC could go ahead with polls.

Suthep said Somchai's proposal sounded good, but insisted on implementing national "reforms" before the elections.


-- The Nation 2014-05-16

[Snig27]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

[whybother]

Delay the election ... or move the meeting further away from the protesters? It's so confusing!

[tezzainoz]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

Is this just your opinion written on the back of a beer coaster

Or you have fact to prove this

The Thais that I know and many who are protesting with Suthep

want an election, but a fair election that it seems is not waht you want

Maybe I am wrong and you also want

No 1) Freedom of speech by all parties in all areas

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

3) All parties yellow and red to abide by the rule of law

[HappyinNE]

And the Air Force Chief still has his job? Can't even properly patrol their own Air Force Academy.

A bit different than most countries.

[heybruce]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

Is this just your opinion written on the back of a beer coaster

Or you have fact to prove this

The Thais that I know and many who are protesting with Suthep

want an election, but a fair election that it seems is not waht you want

Maybe I am wrong and you also want

No 1) Freedom of speech by all parties in all areas

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

3) All parties yellow and red to abide by the rule of law

Aren't all these things already the law? Do your friends think there shouldn't be elections because somebody might break the law?

[tezzainoz]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

Is this just your opinion written on the back of a beer coaster

Or you have fact to prove this

The Thais that I know and many who are protesting with Suthep

want an election, but a fair election that it seems is not what you want

But the biggest laugh is

You can not think of any law the PTP party has broken since being in office

Maybe I am wrong and you also want

No 1) Freedom of speech by all parties in all areas

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

3) All parties yellow and red to abide by the rule of law

Aren't all these things already the law? Do your friends think there shouldn't be elections because somebody might break the law?

Some people just don't get out much

Please show me where the Dems have been allowed to vote in Issan area

Ms Yingluck had never called for the pro-government and red-shirt demonstrators to behave, suggesting that she supported the actions of these same redshirt demonstrators.

Thai People have witnessed red-shirt demonstrators threaten other party members without facing arrest.

The Democrat Party has also been threatened, many times if they want to campaign in Issan

During the 2005 general election, a political canvasser belonging to his party in Phichit province had been told to stop his campaigning.

When the threat was ignored, the canvasser was shot dead in front of his house three days before the election. Police have still not arrested any suspects

In 2014 things are even worse. Anti-government demonstrators were being ambushed on a main Hyway and no suspects had been arrested.

Under these circumstances, No other party but the PTP is safe to campaign for votes in the North East of Thailand

“The [Democrat] party conducted a survey of potential candidates nationwide and found that 80% had no safe place to campaign for votes, except those in the South, Bangkok and parts of the Central Plains.

So, is this a democratic Election, is it fair if only one political party can campaign for votes but others cannot,

Under your idea you would say Suthep should not be allowed to run for any party in the next election, and I would agree

But all the Red shirt activists should be allowed

what about Yingluk she is no longer able to run because of Section 102 do you agree with this

Edited May 16, 2014 by tezzainoz

[Fat Haggis]

Why would the dems need to canvass Issan if by all your posts that the majority of the country support reforms and are behind Suthep and his bold brigade?

Could it be that your talking bovine scatology ???

[Scamper]

" He said government representatives walked out of the room right away, without scheduling another meeting, adding that he the issue might be discussed via teleconferencing. "

Or perhaps skype - Thaksin's favourite medium of choice.

Or perhaps facebook - Yingluck's favourite medium of choice.

Of course, if all else fails, there's always McDonald's.

[h90]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

stopping vote buying and fraud isn't something evil

[chotthee]

I really love the photo.

[heybruce]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

Is this just your opinion written on the back of a beer coaster

Or you have fact to prove this

The Thais that I know and many who are protesting with Suthep

want an election, but a fair election that it seems is not what you want

But the biggest laugh is

You can not think of any law the PTP party has broken since being in office

Maybe I am wrong and you also want

No 1) Freedom of speech by all parties in all areas

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

3) All parties yellow and red to abide by the rule of law

Aren't all these things already the law? Do your friends think there shouldn't be elections because somebody might break the law?

Some people just don't get out much

Please show me where the Dems have been allowed to vote in Issan area

Ms Yingluck had never called for the pro-government and red-shirt demonstrators to behave, suggesting that she supported the actions of these same redshirt demonstrators.

Thai People have witnessed red-shirt demonstrators threaten other party members without facing arrest.

The Democrat Party has also been threatened, many times if they want to campaign in Issan

During the 2005 general election, a political canvasser belonging to his party in Phichit province had been told to stop his campaigning.

When the threat was ignored, the canvasser was shot dead in front of his house three days before the election. Police have still not arrested any suspects

In 2014 things are even worse. Anti-government demonstrators were being ambushed on a main Hyway and no suspects had been arrested.

Under these circumstances, No other party but the PTP is safe to campaign for votes in the North East of Thailand

“The [Democrat] party conducted a survey of potential candidates nationwide and found that 80% had no safe place to campaign for votes, except those in the South, Bangkok and parts of the Central Plains.

So, is this a democratic Election, is it fair if only one political party can campaign for votes but others cannot,

Under your idea you would say Suthep should not be allowed to run for any party in the next election, and I would agree

But all the Red shirt activists should be allowed

what about Yingluk she is no longer able to run because of Section 102 do you agree with this

Yes, some people don't get out much. And some people don't stay up on current events.

I can reference news stories that show that Suthep's thugs intimidated candidates and voters to the point of invalidating a national election. I'm sure there have been problems for Democrats in the redshirt areas, but nothing on that scale. Regarding the Democrat's survey, I'm suspicious of all surveys not conducted by qualified, non-partisan organizations, which means I'm suspicious of most surveys. The Democrats assume, with good reason, that they can't win a national election so they don't want an election. From the Economist, December 9, 2013 http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/12/thailand-s-protests:

"Mr Suthep’s motley crew of acolytes and cheerleaders try to argue that somehow all of Mr Thaksin’s victories (in the various party guises) have been “bought” and that voters have been “bribed” by the promise of lavish public spending, to help poor rice farmers for instance. But there is almost no evidence that any of these elections were systematically bought or rigged in anyway. Indeed, the last election, certainly, was very well conducted by comparison with other recent elections in the South-East Asian region. Indeed, when pressed, one of Mr Suthep’s main advisers admitted to me that despite all the alleged vote-buying (which he produced no evidence for) the result was still “legitimate”. And the incontinent public spending programmes? In the West that’s called Keynesian economics."

I don't know where you got the idea that I think Suthep should not run. I would be happy to see Suthep run, in spite of the arrest warrants, just so the Thai people can demonstrate what they think of him. I'm fine with people convicted of certain crimes not being allowed to run, however so many charges have been filed, some legitimate and some apparently frivolous, that it is impractical to prohibit people from running simply because charges have been filed. Regarding Yingluck, I doubt if she wants to run, but in the absence of a conviction I don't care if she does.

No election will ever be perfect. That does not mean there should not be elections.

[trainman34014]

Why don't they hold these meetings at secret locations or highly fortified venue's ? Too logical i guess !

[tezzainoz]

Suthep is desperate for the Thai people not to have a say on how their country is governed, isn't he.

Is this just your opinion written on the back of a beer coaster

Or you have fact to prove this

The Thais that I know and many who are protesting with Suthep

want an election, but a fair election that it seems is not what you want

But the biggest laugh is

You can not think of any law the PTP party has broken since being in office

Maybe I am wrong and you also want

No 1) Freedom of speech by all parties in all areas

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

3) All parties yellow and red to abide by the rule of law

Aren't all these things already the law? Do your friends think there shouldn't be elections because somebody might break the law?

Some people just don't get out much

Please show me where the Dems have been allowed to vote in Issan area

Ms Yingluck had never called for the pro-government and red-shirt demonstrators to behave, suggesting that she supported the actions of these same redshirt demonstrators.

Thai People have witnessed red-shirt demonstrators threaten other party members without facing arrest.

The Democrat Party has also been threatened, many times if they want to campaign in Issan

During the 2005 general election, a political canvasser belonging to his party in Phichit province had been told to stop his campaigning.

When the threat was ignored, the canvasser was shot dead in front of his house three days before the election. Police have still not arrested any suspects

In 2014 things are even worse. Anti-government demonstrators were being ambushed on a main Hyway and no suspects had been arrested.

Under these circumstances, No other party but the PTP is safe to campaign for votes in the North East of Thailand

“The [Democrat] party conducted a survey of potential candidates nationwide and found that 80% had no safe place to campaign for votes, except those in the South, Bangkok and parts of the Central Plains.

So, is this a democratic Election, is it fair if only one political party can campaign for votes but others cannot,

Under your idea you would say Suthep should not be allowed to run for any party in the next election, and I would agree

But all the Red shirt activists should be allowed

what about Yingluk she is no longer able to run because of Section 102 do you agree with this

some people love to twist what over people say

No 2) Section 102 Enforced

A person under any of the following prohibitions shall have no right to be a candidate in an election of members of the House of Representatives:

(6) having been expelled, dismissed or removed from the official service, a State agency or a State enterprise on the ground of dishonest performance of duties or corruption;

No where in this does it say people who have been charged, this is some thing you made up

and Yingluck was dissmissed, and removed so she is not valid to take part in another election under section 102

Like most things PTP and it seem yourselflove to twist the aw to suit their opinion