GENERAL ELECTION IN DECEMBER IN THAILAND

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 507129.stm

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has announced that general elections will be held in December.
Mr Surayud also rejected a military demand for emergency powers to be restored to curtail growing anti-coup protests in the capital Bangkok.

The military is worried a protest planned for Friday might become unruly.

Mr Surayud was appointed prime minister by the military after the overthrow of his predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup last September.

Mr Surayud said a general election would be held on either 16 or 22 December.

A government spokesman later said the prime minister had meant to say either 16 or 23 December, French news agency Agence France Presse reported.

Protest park closed

Mr Surayud also said a referendum on a new constitution would be held "no later than September".

He also said imposing a state of emergency might inflame an already tense situation.

"There will be no imposition of the emergency decree for now because the situation does not warrant it," the prime minister told reporters after meeting with the generals who led last year's coup.

"I don't want to see clashes among the Thai people," he said.

Anti-coup rallies demanding immediate elections have been growing in recent weeks but are still drawing relatively few people.

Last weekend's, the biggest yet, drew 3,000 people to a park in Bangkok. Protests against Mr Thaksin before his overthrow last year drew up to 100,000 people.

Bangkok's city authorities decided to close the Sanam Luang park where Friday's protest was planned. Protest organisers said the anti-coup rally would instead be held outside the city hall.

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... is wait until the next time the Palace doesn't like what's going on

[wowpow]

Now this is something to SHOUT about plus the wise decision not to declare a state of Emergency.

Prime minister of Thailand rejects call for state of emergency


BANGKOK: Thailand's prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, rejected the advice of the general who put him in power, declining on Thursday to declare a state of emergency in Bangkok to clamp down on anti-government protesters and instead promising to hold elections before the end of the year.
"As of now, we will not declare a state of emergency," Surayud told reporters after meeting with General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led the September coup. "I gave my opinion that if the situation does not constitute an emergency that jeopardizes the stability of the country, we cannot use that law," Surayud said.
On Wednesday, Sonthi declared that emergency measures were necessary in Bangkok to deal with protesters who have announced numerous rallies for the coming days.
After comments late Wednesday suggesting that he might side with the general, Surayud took the opposite tack: He said he still had the power to declare a state of emergency, which would suspend civil laws, but that the current situation did not merit the move.
Then he set a timetable for the return to democracy. A referendum on a Constitution currently being drafted would take place no later than September, he said, and elections would be held on Dec. 16 or Dec. 22.
Full story http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/29/news/thai.php

[Bob]

Probably shouldn't phrase it that way, it might get General Sondhi thinking of running (or simply installing himself).