Defiant protesters disregard Thai poll, still want PM out

News Manager

Milforums News Bot
By Martin Petty and Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters planned to forge ahead on Monday with efforts to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a day after a disrupted election that is unlikely to settle Thailand's long-running political conflict. The demonstrators blocked balloting in a fifth of the country's constituencies and say Yingluck must resign and make way for an appointed "people's council" to overhaul a political system they say has been taken hostage by her billionaire brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. Sunday's election, which the main opposition party boycotted, is almost certain to return Yingluck to power and, with voting passing off peacefully across the north and northeast, Yingluck's supporters will no doubt claim a legitimate mandate. But the vote is unlikely to change the dysfunctional status quo in a country popular with tourists and investors yet blighted by eight years of polarization and turmoil, pitting the Bangkok-based middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poor, rural supporters of the Shinawatras.




More...
 
Back
Top