Democrats to join EC meeting

Democrats to join EC meeting

The Democrat Party says it will attend a meeting on Tuesday with the Election Commission (EC) but will not run in the next election as long as the Pheu Thai Party cannot stop violence in the country.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and Chamni Sakdiset, his deputy, will join Tuesday's meeting, said party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut on Saturday. 

Pheu Thai will send party chief Charupong Ruangsuwan and legal adviser Bhokin Bhalakula to the meeting, said deputy party spokesman Jirayu Huangsap.

He said Pheu Thai would raise the issue of campaign spending quotas for the next election. It wants to know whether the spending in the nullified Feb 2 poll will count toward the quota for the next election.

The law allows each candidate to spend up to 1.5 million baht in an election.

More importantly, the party would like to know what the EC is prepared to do if protesters disrupt polling units again.

Mr Jirayu on Saturday also revealed the results of his party poll of 2,454 people in Bangkok who had joined at least one of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protests.

The survey, taken from April 2-8, asked the respondents whether they would join another protest rally this month if PDRC chief Suthep Thaugsuban called for one.

Eleven percent said they would go and 22% would wait to see how the situation unfolds, while 67% said they would not go because they had already been to several of large PDRC rallies.

Among those who said they would not go, 47% said they had joined the protests when the objective was to stop the blanket amnesty bill. When that goal was achieved, they no longer saw the need.

Thirty-nine percent said they would not go because they now knew the Democrat Party better, while 24% thought the rallies were a waste of time and felt they were being used by some people around them and the media.

Asked whether they thought the reform championed by the PDRC could be realised, 76% did not think so because there were no supporting laws, 16% were not sure and 8% believed it was achievable.

Mr Suthep has been vague about the nature and process of the reforms, but he has made it clear that if the Yingkluck Shinawatra government has to step down, he is prepared to assume dictatorial powers in the name of "the people".

He said he would recommend the name of an interim prime minister to His Majesty and countersign the appointment. The Suthep-appointed regime would remain in power until reforms are complete before a new election is held.

Asked if they would have joined the PDRC protest had they known what they do today, 87% said that if they could go back in time they would not have gone, while 13% said they would still join.

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