After disrupting Thailand election, protesters pledge more demonstrations
February 3, 2014 -- Updated 1245 GMT (2045 HKT)
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban
greets supporters during a march in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday,
February 3. Anti-government protesters disrupted voting in roughly
one-fifth of Thailand's electoral districts in national elections
Sunday, February 2, authorities said.
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Protests in Thailand's national election
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: An estimated 45.84% of Thai voters participated in the election, authorities say
- Anti-government protesters continue their rallies in Bangkok
- They disrupted voting in roughly one fifth of districts in Sunday's election
- The Electoral Commission says it could take months to complete votes in affected areas
The troubled election
Sunday, which was boycotted by the main opposition party, appears
unlikely to resolve Thailand's protracted political crisis, which has
fueled bouts of deadly unrest in the Southeast Asian country.
During the tense election
process, anti-government protesters stopped candidates from
registering, blocked delivery of ballot boxes and prevented people from
casting their votes. As a result, voting was disrupted in 69 out of the
country's 375 electoral districts, authorities said.
The demonstrators have
been protesting since November, saying they want to rid Thailand of the
influence of Yingluck and her older brother, former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, who now lives in exile.
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Protest leaders are
demanding that an unelected "people's council" be given the power to
carry out political and electoral changes in a country where parties
affiliated with Thaksin have dominated elections since 2001.
Disrupted election
Yingluck has insisted
that an election is the only legitimate way forward for Thailand, which
has been repeatedly wracked by political conflicts over the past eight
years. Her party is expected to win this vote comfortable, especially as
the opposition Democrat Party refused to participate.
An estimated 45.84% of
voters participated in the election, the Election Commission said
Monday, a far lower turnout than the 75% in the 2011 vote that brought
Yingluck to power.
Since voting was
disrupted in so many districts, this election appears unlikely to
produce enough valid results to form a parliament, meaning Yingluck will
remain as caretaker Prime Minister.
The Electoral Commission
says holding by-elections in all the disrupted districts -- a process
likely to face further pressure from protesters -- could take as long as
six months.
Last week, an attorney
for the Democrat Party filed a petition asking the nation's
constitutional court to declare Sunday's election invalid because of the
disruptions to voting.
Election results are yet to be announced.
Protesters resolute
The outlook for Thailand appears to be more uncertainty and unrest.
Since November, at least
10 people have died and nearly 600 have been wounded in violence linked
to tensions around the protests.
The conflict has
deepened the country's political divide. The anti-government movement
draws it support from southern Thailand, Bangkok's middle class and the
established elites. Yingluck's base is in the less affluent but more
populous regions north and east of the capital.
In Laksi, a Bangkok
district of mixed pro- and anti-government sentiment, gunfire erupted
Saturday between masked men amid demonstrations against the elections,
witnesses said. Health officials reported at least eight people wounded
since Saturday.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Sunday sought to distance his movement from the violence.
"We need to keep our
principles. We fight in peace, with no weapons and violence. We only
fight with our feet and whistles," he said. "We have the right to a
peaceful protest."
Suthep said his
supporters would continue efforts this week to block government offices
in Bangkok. They held a march in the center of Bangkok on Monday.
Lt. Gen. Paradon
Patthanathabut, the national security chief, estimated that there were
between 2,000 and 3,000 demonstrators on the city's streets Monday.
Protesters generally dispute authorities' estimates of their numbers,
claiming they are far higher.
Voters determined
Despite the tensions in Bangkok, many voters insisted on casting their ballots.
"I'm very excited to
exercise my right to vote today," Nopphorn Tabupha said from Bangkok's
Bueng Kum district. "I didn't think I would be able to come out. I
thought I was going to be blocked by the protesters."
Others found their efforts to participate frustrated.
In the Bangkok district
of Din Daeng, voting was called off because protesters blocked officials
from distributing ballot boxes. A group of government supporters
responded by gathering at the district office chanting, "Election,
election" and "We want to vote today."
Meanwhile, opposition supporters reiterated their rejection of the vote.
"No, I didn't (vote) -- I
want reform before elections. Because if I did, we will only get bad
people, corrupt politicians," said Suriya Phodhikul, a computer
technician participating in an anti-government rally in the Phayathai
district of Bangkok.
Thaksin's role
Suthep's anti-government
protesters say Yingluck is merely a puppet of Thaksin, a polarizing
figure who built his support on populist policies that pleased residents
of the north and northeast. Yingluck has repeatedly denied her brother
calls the shots in her government.
Thaksin, a business
tycoon whose electoral success unsettled the Thai elite, was ousted in a
military coup in 2006 and has spent most of the time since then in
exile overseas. If he returns, he risks a two-year prison sentence on a
corruption conviction, which he says was politically motivated.
Yingluck's government
set off the current crisis with a botched attempt to pass an amnesty
bill that would have opened the door for Thaksin's return. The move
stirred anger around the country.
Thailand's worst civil
unrest took place in 2010, when the government -- run at the time by the
Democrat Party -- ordered a crackdown on largely pro-Thaksin
protesters, leaving about 90 people dead.
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