PM: No election if unrest remains | Bangkok Post: news

News > Politics

PM: No election if unrest remains

A general election will not be called as long as there is disorder in the country, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday.

His statement came a day after The state-run National Broadcasting Service of Thailand (NBT) Channel 11 television station was attacked with an M79 grenade. The blast, which caused no injuries, occurred in the car park in front of the buildings housing the national broadcaster about 1.45pm. It damaged a van and four sedans.

"What happened will be taken into consideration when I make decisions relating to the election. I have said before that people's confidence will have to be restored before an election is held," he said.

However, Mr Abhisit said he does not believe that those who were behind the attack have the intention to delay the election, as claimed by opposition Puea Thai MP Chalerm Yubamrung.

The prime minister refused to speculate whether the attack was carried out by the same group of people who launched attacks during the red-shirt protests this year.

PM Abhisit Vejjajiva (right) and Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban

This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.

About the author

columnist
Writer: Online Reporters
Position: Online Reporters

Keep this article in your social bookmark:

Latest stories in this category:

Most Viewed

Forum

Your comments

  • somtam

    Discussion 13 : 02/09/2010 at 06:36 PM13

    @ricefieldradio: I am amazed how you can defend vote buying. The Takky parties (TRT/PPP/PTP) never won any elections, they simply bought them. As for the M79s attacks the redshirts have already admitted via BBC that they are doing such coward acts.

  • ricefieldradio

    Discussion 12 : 02/09/2010 at 11:56 AM12

    lek - No other way but violence. I dispute that. TRT/PPP/PTP have won every national election for the past decade, as opposed to the Democrats who have not won a single election in 65 years, even with the Military's help. As for buying votes, TRT/PPP/PTP's biggest culprits the BJT faction have defected to the Democrats, who also buy votes if you don't know already.

    As for m79 attacks I'm with those wondering how the culprit has managed to miss every time. I'm sure anyone so far on this forum with 20 minutes practice could hit something. So why all the misses? Terrorism to promote a state of fear and not likely by the Reds, even the militant ones.

  • Nelson mandella

    Discussion 11 : 02/09/2010 at 02:09 AM11

    Something is fishy going on here. How come everytime when bomb goes off. There was no death involved just minor property damaged. This looks like a well-planned plot of the government to give them the excuse not to lift the state of emergency and at the same time discredit the red shirts. Also further more that give them good argument for delaying the general election.

  • Yawn

    Discussion 10 : 01/09/2010 at 11:39 PM10

    Yawning...buying time again??

  • lek

    Discussion 9 : 01/09/2010 at 07:35 PM9

    Puea Thai and the redshirts do not know any other way than violence and they will continue to set off bombs. They also know that they can not win an election where they are not able to buy the votes.

  • somtam

    Discussion 8 : 01/09/2010 at 07:32 PM8

    The term of the coalition government does not end until late 2011. There is no reason for an election before then.

  • Sceptic

    Discussion 7 : 01/09/2010 at 06:04 PM7

    This is pure government spin from Abhisit and Suthep. They apparently don't know who is responsible but try to imply that it must be connected to the red shirts. But it is at least as likely that it is the work of people with an interest in maintaining the SoE and the CRES and who would be happy to see an election postponed. Even more worrying is the PM's assertion that an election will not be called as long as there is this sort of disorder. Does he mean by this that in the event he would continue his government beyond its legal term? Which brings us back to the first question; who has most interest in perpetrating these sort of attacks? The same argument has been used by the Burmese military.

  • gone hunting

    Discussion 6 : 01/09/2010 at 06:02 PM6

    P.M., dont spit the dummy and throw a tantrum every time something happens that has nothing to do with holding a general election. So, seeing that the south is not stable, does that also not constitute disorder in the country.
    If the P.M. had his way there would be no election or "HAS HE"....up to you P.M.

  • Bubba

    Discussion 5 : 01/09/2010 at 05:56 PM5

    - "A general election will not be called as long as there is disorder in the country, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday."


    The emergency decree prevents elections.

    The bombings prevent the emergency from being lifted.

    The democrats would lose a general election.


    Who can for certain continue to suggest it is the red shirts responsible for the bombings?

    They are not so stupid as to continue the one activity which "justifies" the PM's refusing elections and which prevents them as a consequence from coming back to holding political power.

  • SPICEMAN

    Discussion 4 : 01/09/2010 at 05:55 PM4

    Apisit has put himself in a terrible no win situation. What if more M-79s continue to rain down on innocent people and property? What if a new election will enable Thai people again to elect their true majority leader, which in most likelihood won't be Apisit, but those elected by E-San people?

 1  2  Next Last

Reply

Sign in once and access every part of the website at your convenience!

Please log in to our Bangkokpost.com community to post your comment.
You can sign in to the community by clicking here.

If you are not part of the community yet, please sign up here. By being part of this community you will get all these privileges.