CrazyExpat Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 Thailand's "yellow shirts" protest movement targeted the political opposition on Tuesday over its links to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, urging the nation's election watchdog to disband the party as it races ahead in opinion polls. It was unclear whether the Election Commission (EC) would take any action following the complaint by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which held mass protests in 2006 and 2008 that undermined two governments led or backed by Thaksin, who is banned from politics and lives in exile to evade a two-year prison sentence for corruption. The complaint comes as the Puea Thai Party led by Thaksin's charismatic 44-year-old sister Yingluck Shinawatra gathers momentum ahead of the July 3 election, garnering support with promises of a revival of her brother's populist policies. PAD spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said Puea Thai should be dissolved for breaching rules that prohibit convicted or disqualified politicians from participating in politics. The move adds to uncertainty in a country caught up in a five-year spiral of political conflict pitting Thaksin's mostly rural and urban working class supporters against generals, royalists and conservative elites deeply opposed to him. Most independent analysts expect complications in the formation of the next government and say street protests or legal action could be launched by either side to contest the outcome of the election. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a political analyst at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies suggested the PAD's complaint was part of a broader strategy by Thaksin's powerful opponents to stifle Puea Thai and avert the tycoon's planned return from exile without serving jail time. For full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-thailand-election-yellowshirts-idUSTRE75K38I20110621 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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