Thai PM Says Elections Must Wait
June 7, 2010
By: Benjamin Russell

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters that the country needs a “period of calm” before new elections can be held, according to VOA News.  His comments come after more than two months of periodically violent protests by Thailand’s Red Shirt movement, a group of mostly rural poor connected to former Prime Minister and telecom magnate Thaksin Shinawatra.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Vietnam earlier this week, Abhisit assured reporters that he would “not use the reconciliation process as a pretext for not holding early elections,” but added that any elections would “have to be helpful to the recovery process of the country.”

On May 19th, Abhisit authorized the forcible removal of the Red Shirts from their 3-square km camp in the downtown Bangkok, and though the group’s leadership surrendered quietly, the confrontation led to at least five deaths and dozens of injuries.  All told, approximately 87 people have been killed and another 1,800 injured in similar clashes since the protests began in March, according to the Economist. 

Last month’s crackdown came after peace talks collapsed when the Red Shirts balked at an offer to hold early elections in November, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.  The Red Shirts, who have been vocally critical of the government since Shinawatra was removed in a military coup in 2006, launched their protests in March of this year, ostensibly to force a new round of elections.

The group’s refusal of Abhisit’s offer has led some to question the Red Shirts’ goals.  "Their demand is asking for early election and then the government proposed…a November election and they accept in the beginning, and at the end they are changing their demand every day," said Naruemon Chabchumpon, Political Science Director at Chulalongkorn University.   "At that time I think the public in Bangkok feel that, start to wonder, what is their real demand?"

In reference to the Red Shirts, an Economist report noted that “they think it is not possible to play at democracy in the current circumstances. To this group of rogue military types, armchair revolutionaries and opportunists, the endgame is not elections, but regime change.”

The Prime Minister’s government received congressional support for its handling of the protests when he and several ministers survived a confidence vote earlier in the week.  The vote was the “first public forum to discuss the unrest,” according to the Wall Street Journal, but political analysts believe more will be required to address the divisions in Thai society.  To prevent unrest from recurring, says Chabchumpon, the government needs to hold new elections and direct more economic assistance to the rural areas. "In terms of the economic policy I think Thailand might have to start thinking about welfare state, to put more welfare to the rural areas because right now the rural people might feel that most of the budget goes so much for urbanization," Chabchumpon said.

Many of the Red Shirt leaders are now in military custody, and the government has instituted military rule in Bangkok and 23 other provinces.  Abhisit has said that curfews will continue to be enforced for another two days as an independent committee is set up to investigate the violence between protestors and government forces.  The Thai military has come under fire for its response to the protests as Amnesty International’s calls for the use of non-lethal ammunition just days before the May 19th crackdown went unheeded. 

To read more about the Red Shirt protests, please see:

Thailand Unrest Continues

Thailand Red Shirt General Shot  

Sources:

The Economist – A Polity Imploding

Bloomberg Businessweek – Thailand Needs ‘Period of Stability’ Before Elections

Wall Street Journal – Thai Prime Minister Survives Test

VOA News – Thais Clean up Bangkok, Business to Resume Monday

VOA News – Thailand Weary, Divided After Military Crackdown on Red Shirt Protestors

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