Next Election May Take Place '1-2 Years' From Now

[Anon999]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Would you apply that to only the most recent government or the one before also? Im thinking in particular the billions of baht Suthep stole with his Palm Oil antics?

If you only want to go back to the previous government and not those before, the question is WHY? Go back 10, 15, 20 years, why not?

[HUAHIN62]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Would you apply that to only the most recent government or the one before also? Im thinking in particular the billions of baht Suthep stole with his Palm Oil antics?

I'm sorry you're disappointed with the situation. But reform is coming. Root out all the thieves, anywhere and everywhere. I think there are lots of people in the country at every social stratum who are desperate to see things change and have hope for the future. Clean the stables.

Then there will be no politicians left to run the country.

[northernjohn]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Utter and complete nonsense.

Use the Courts to determine your allegation, not suspend a democratic system and replace it with an imposed military junta.

For once I agree with you.

But let us not forget the PTP and red shirts are violently opposed to the courts.

Also we have been blessed with a wise and intelligent Army that has not imposed a military junta on us. They have imposed a safer environment on us than the current government had. To top it all off they have been forcing the different people involved to sit down and try to work out a solution. Much better than sitting on their own thrones demanding their own way and ignoring the others. It may not be a democracy as some claim but who the hell cares as long as it is making Thailand a safer place to live and giving them the opportunity to iron out their differences.

[diehard60]

Yea know this says that the leaders of the pro and anit demonstrates were invited, The only ones that went were the Pt what hapened to suthep and that stupid idiot of a monk? Did they chicken out going> There is not mention of them going. If they had gone there would be a big spread on them going.

[chotthee]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Would you apply that to only the most recent government or the one before also? Im thinking in particular the billions of baht Suthep stole with his Palm Oil antics?

But But Suthep................., A good liberal statement.

While at it rooting out all the corruption, kindly look into the 163 police hosing units worth 3B Baht and the 396 police stations worth 5.848B Baht under Ahbisit tenureship which are not built. Thank you.

Yes it is under Mark's time.

But Mark himself did not gain from them; nothing to do with him.

[diehard60]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Utter and complete nonsense.

Use the Courts to determine your allegation, not suspend a democratic system and replace it with an imposed military junta.

For once I agree with you.

But let us not forget the PTP and red shirts are violently opposed to the courts.

Also we have been blessed with a wise and intelligent Army that has not imposed a military junta on us. They have imposed a safer environment on us than the current government had. To top it all off they have been forcing the different people involved to sit down and try to work out a solution. Much better than sitting on their own thrones demanding their own way and ignoring the others. It may not be a democracy as some claim but who the hell cares as long as it is making Thailand a safer place to live and giving them the opportunity to iron out their differences.

you are wrong one more time but you ussually are. the acting or legal government was being very peaceful but your beloved suthep and his thugs and you reveared NON monk and his thugs were not they only wanted to kill and hurt people for no reason at all.

[sonnyt34]

Maybe this can begin to correct to the overly rapid inflation in the country and with declines in tourism help Thais realise what it takes to build a self sustaining country the way it was 30 years ago before the tourism boom began.

[Eric Loh]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Would you apply that to only the most recent government or the one before also? Im thinking in particular the billions of baht Suthep stole with his Palm Oil antics?

But But Suthep................., A good liberal statement.

While at it rooting out all the corruption, kindly look into the 163 police hosing units worth 3B Baht and the 396 police stations worth 5.848B Baht under Ahbisit tenureship which are not built. Thank you.

Yes it is under Mark's time.

But Mark himself did not gain from them; nothing to do with him.

Didn't say Mark anything to do with it until proven guilty. But he did approved the contract with born again Suthep despite protest from 8 legible contractors. So there is collusion. Then why give the big project to just one contractor who happened to be cash strapped.

I think we are going off topic. In summary, corruption are in every government. Rooting out corruption is near to impossible. Even squeaky clean Singapore has corruption. Important is we have a just judiciary with heavy deterrent to corruption and a just anti corruption agencies who go after everyone whether wealthy or powerful.

[monkeycountry]

It is a coup! I hope US and other embassies seems it that way asap. You can also send e-mail to your emabassy/consulate to say you support democracy and Thai constitution (which clearly tells to have an election asap). I pitty those brave some 30 million people who voted and will vote in an election(s). Everybody should also know that vote buying has been a long tradition in Thai politics just made "know" during Thaksin period. Corruption done by Suthep (who is considered not that wealthy just owning few billions) is much much worse than T. did. The problem/challenge is between Siam and Thailand as a whole. finally last time military picked the government, it was the most corrupted government in decades in Thailand

Blablabla.Have a look at the SET, and see how much it has gone up since the "coup" a few days ago. It seems those who understand finance prefer the military to the Shinawatra government.

Further, a poll shows that 75% supports this "coup".

I bet that surprises you

Edited May 22, 2014 by monkeycountry

[casualbiker]

It may well take more than two years to root out all the corruption associated with the multi-billion baht scams PTP foisted on the country. And that should be part of the process of a fair election--full knowledge before the election of where the money went, who got it, and who accepted payoffs and bribes.

Would you apply that to only the most recent government or the one before also? Im thinking in particular the billions of baht Suthep stole with his Palm Oil antics?

But But Suthep................., A good liberal statement.

While at it rooting out all the corruption, kindly look into the 163 police hosing units worth 3B Baht and the 396 police stations worth 5.848B Baht under Ahbisit tenureship which are not built. Thank you.

Yes it is under Mark's time.

But Mark himself did not gain from them; nothing to do with him.

Didn't say Mark anything to do with it until proven guilty. But he did approved the contract with born again Suthep despite protest from 8 legible contractors. So there is collusion. Then why give the big project to just one contractor who happened to be cash strapped.

I think we are going off topic. In summary, corruption are in every government. Rooting out corruption is near to impossible. Even squeaky clean Singapore has corruption. Important is we have a just judiciary with heavy deterrent to corruption and a just anti corruption agencies who go after everyone whether wealthy or powerful.

Not sure but wasn't it the Police themselves who asked for the contract change and there seems evidence that police commanders actually wanted bribes to allow builders on site!

But yes corruption is all over.. hence the need for reforms!

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ianf]

We could see it coming a mile off. Not a coup. Pffft!

Absolutely not a coup. But a possibility that a reform process will result in free and fair elections for the future. All this coup scare mongering is so ignorant. When soldiers march in, arrest and shoot all and sundry, violate every bit of the Geneva convention and do not respect those parties that have tried to engage politically, then we have a coup. A bit like Thaksin's best mate, Hun Sen, in Cambodia. Or perhaps look how Pinochet overturned Allende in Chile in 1976 - now there was a coup. Another thread here says that 75% of the population are supportive of the army in their present actions. Those of us who care for humanity and the Thai people have welcomed the fact that the military have identified and seized weapons of war that the UDD was planning to use in Bangkok (and elsewhere). So the military intervention is a necessary part of the process especially when Thaksin's police force have done nothing whatsoever to stem the tide of red violence. I do not support Suthep per se. But I do think that he has been the only one brave enough to stand out from the crowd and tell the Shins that 'enough is enough'. There's a lot more here going on behind the scenes that us mere posters on TV know about or understand. But we can take an educated guess. So your post Mr Bear is truly ridiculous and does not Bear up to scrutiny.

[heybruce]

We can't have an election because the evil US empire has allowed Thaksin, who is really a space alien, to use their secret mind-control satellites to tell people how to vote. I can't prove it, but none of the people claiming vote buying have offered proof, so my story is as good as theirs.

[monkeycountry]

We can't have an election because the evil US empire has allowed Thaksin, who is really a space alien, to use their secret mind-control satellites to tell people how to vote. I can't prove it, but none of the people claiming vote buying have offered proof, so my story is as good as theirs.

Each time proof is presented, you guys claim it is not a real red shirt, but a yellow shirt in disguise. Latest example a few days ago was 60 red shirts who filed a police report as their own leader had not paid the promised bribe. Of course, noone can prove that these were not 60 yellow shirts from Isaan on a false flag operation

[Hulkster]

Get it through your heads.

It's a coup. They didn't go through the judiciary and use the military to take control just to hand power back with an election in August.

Are some of you having trouble joining the dots?

[Robby nz]

After wading through a lot of dung on this topic I went back and read the OP again,

It is basically the EC saying that elections 'must be held and the sooner the better'.

"The Election Commission has insisted to the meeting that an election is still the solution to the country," Mr. Somchai said in a press conference today, "It's just we have to wait for the right moment, so that the election takes place in peaceful and orderly manner, and a universally-accepted government can be formed after the election."

With the Feb 2 fiasco behind them, an election they were forced to hold against their better judgment and against the advice of many, they don't want to go down that road again. Understandable ? Yes

They have worked out how soon an election can be held considering the work that must be done including the possibility that no one in the caretaker Govt is legally empowered to sign a royal decree and have come up with a time of within 5 months.

But, to quote : the participants can decide whether they can "create an appropriate atmosphere and mechanism, to ensure a free and fair election" in the next two months"

Meaning that if all those involved can come to an agreement in the next 2 months on how to make an election free and fair for all (and that would include political parties, candidates and voters) then they would have time to organize an election within the 5 month period.

They have apparently said 'within' these stated times, which would appear to mean the sooner an agreement is reached the sooner the election process could start.

This would also apply to the 1 to 2yr timeframe so that any time a collective agreement is reached the EC could be approached to start the election process.

So therefor it is up to the warring disagreeing factions to come up with, as the Election Commissioner says, : "An appropriate atmosphere and mechanism, to ensure a free and fair election"

Don't see whats wrong with that, he is laying it on the line by saying :

"Stop your scrapping, get your collective asses into gear and work out a way to make an election free and fair so it achieve can the positive result of an universally-accepted government"

[heybruce]

We can't have an election because the evil US empire has allowed Thaksin, who is really a space alien, to use their secret mind-control satellites to tell people how to vote. I can't prove it, but none of the people claiming vote buying have offered proof, so my story is as good as theirs.

Each time proof is presented, you guys claim it is not a real red shirt, but a yellow shirt in disguise. Latest example a few days ago was 60 red shirts who filed a police report as their own leader had not paid the promised bribe. Of course, noone can prove that these were not 60 yellow shirts from Isaan on a false flag operation

Wow, the fact that 60 votes can change the outcome of a national election is staggering. And this happened when there wasn't an election! Vote buying really is out of control.

I think it's routine for both sides to compensate people for taking time off from work, or from being a bum, to attend rallies. It's been known to happen in the west as well. This incident is about a dispute in that kind of payment.

Do you have any proof that applies to vote buying in an election? Anything that might refute this claim in the Economist on 9 December 2013 http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/12/thailand-s-protests#sthash.Co7FsOSV.dpbs?

"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”."

Edited May 22, 2014 by heybruce

[ghazel53]

This is not a coup.... and there is not a possibility of a civil war...

[Hulkster]

This is not a coup.... and there is not a possibility of a civil war...

Well done buddy

[ikurauni]

It is good.

Fix the problem first.

Educate and inform the facts to Thai people so that they can make educated decisions instead of biased by the money given to them.

How many of us have been told that we can't drink because of the election. It won't happen for a while.

It is good for the restaurants so that they can serve alcoholic beverages.

[beautifulthailand99]

We could see it coming a mile off. Not a coup. Pffft!

Absolutely not a coup. But a possibility that a reform process will result in free and fair elections for the future. All this coup scare mongering is so ignorant. When soldiers march in, arrest and shoot all and sundry, violate every bit of the Geneva convention and do not respect those parties that have tried to engage politically, then we have a coup. A bit like Thaksin's best mate, Hun Sen, in Cambodia. Or perhaps look how Pinochet overturned Allende in Chile in 1976 - now there was a coup. Another thread here says that 75% of the population are supportive of the army in their present actions. Those of us who care for humanity and the Thai people have welcomed the fact that the military have identified and seized weapons of war that the UDD was planning to use in Bangkok (and elsewhere). So the military intervention is a necessary part of the process especially when Thaksin's police force have done nothing whatsoever to stem the tide of red violence. I do not support Suthep per se. But I do think that he has been the only one brave enough to stand out from the crowd and tell the Shins that 'enough is enough'. There's a lot more here going on behind the scenes that us mere posters on TV know about or understand. But we can take an educated guess. So your post Mr Bear is truly ridiculous and does not Bear up to scrutiny.

a bit like Michael Fish BBC weather forecaster and his warning that there would be no UK hurricanes just before the big one hit ....

[beautifulthailand99]

It is good.

Fix the problem first.

Educate and inform the facts to Thai people so that they can make educated decisions instead of biased by the money given to them.

How many of us have been told that we can't drink because of the election. It won't happen for a while.

It is good for the restaurants so that they can serve alcoholic beverages.

yes education ...... you mean like this...

[retsdon]

This most definitely not a coup. It's perfectly normal for the head of the army to order civil authorities to attend meetings, to close down the media, to close the schools, to mobilize troops onto the streets and to announce a curfew. It happens every other week in most countries around the world. Coup? Pfff!

[beautifulthailand99]

This is not a coup.... and there is not a possibility of a civil war...

well you're wrong on the first let's hope second time lucky ...

[rametindallas]

10-20 years in Thai time.

They have beaten democracy - 1 person, 1 vote.

Did you really think PTP was representing the people who elected them? Do you think the PTP was a good representation of representational democracy?

They have beaten democracy - 1 person, 1 vote.

I agree. They beat a Thaksin puppet government where Thaksin's vote was the only one that counted. The PTP government proved they were a puppet government when they voted 100% for Thaksin's amnesty. In any normal democracy there would be at least one dissenter. Thaksin's UDD organizations made sure PTP candidates, only, were on the ballot in much of the country. What they have beaten is one man with all the (PTP's) votes.

[Thai at Heart]

Glad to see that the election commission doesn't understand its job title.

[bifftastic]

Awesome. Military runs the country with martial law for the next 2 years.

Bad for Thais. Good for foreigners. The Thai Baht will fall and fall and we'll all have more money every week.

Good for everybody. Stringent laws and stringent enforcement -- that's what made Singapore what it is today and what could possibly make Thailand realize its potential.

A one party city-state with little or no regard for the rights of it's citizens and even less for the migrant workers it exploits? One that condones human trafficking, still regards homosexuality as illegal, and is now the most expensive city to live in in the world? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26412821

Sounds wonderful. Not.