Headline PH: Thai PM lifts curfew but casts doubt on 2010 poll

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thailand's premier said Saturday it would be hard to hold elections this year as he lifted a curfew imposed across about one third of the country in the wake of deadly anti-government protests.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said however that there was no plan yet to revoke emergency rule following two months of mass rallies by the "Red Shirts" that left almost 90 people dead in a series of clashes with troops.

The protesters were campaigning for snap elections to oust the government and Abhisit had proposed November polls in a bid to end the rally, but he shelved the plan because demonstrators refused to disperse.

"Obviously it's a lot more difficult now to have elections before the end of the year because the November date was set with the (idea of) protesters joining the plan right from the start," Abhisit told a press conference.

But he added that he was not ruling out early elections, hours after he lifted the curfew imposed 10 days earlier across parts of the country, including Bangkok, to quell violent civil unrest.

The British-born, Oxford-educated head of the establishment Democrat Party does not have to go to the polls until the end of next year.

He said Saturday that if all parties involved, including the Reds, joined the peace process and over the next few months the government and parliament functioned smoothly "then that would be the right time" to hold polls.

The Reds' street rallies, which were broken up by the army after two months on May 19, paralysed central Bangkok and sparked several outbreaks of violence that left 88 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1,900 injured.

by Rachel O'Brien
AFP

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