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Thailand should call off election, says electoral commission | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Thailand should not hold an election in February because the risk of violence against candidates is too high, the electoral commission has said. | |
The commission called on the government to postpone the 2 February vote. | |
Bangkok police clashed earlier with protesters who were trying to prevent candidates from registering. | |
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the snap election after weeks of protests that demanded an unelected "people's council" take power. | |
The demonstrators dismissed the election, and the official opposition has refused to field candidates. | |
Protesters have further rejected another offer by Ms Yingluck to form a national reform council intended to run alongside her government. | |
They want Ms Yingluck to step down immediately. | |
On Thursday, the protesters - some of whom were throwing stones - tried to break into the stadium where the electoral commission was registering candidates. | On Thursday, the protesters - some of whom were throwing stones - tried to break into the stadium where the electoral commission was registering candidates. |
But police responded with tear gas, dispersing the crowd. There were no reports of serious injuries. | |
Ms Yingluck dissolved parliament and called an election on 9 December, after more than 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets calling for her government to step down. | Ms Yingluck dissolved parliament and called an election on 9 December, after more than 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets calling for her government to step down. |
Last Sunday, she said the election must take place and urged protesters to express their views at the ballot box. | |
"If we don't hold on to the democratic system, what should we hold on to," she asked. | |
Her Pheu Thai Party won the last election in 2011 and has a big majority in parliament. | |
However, protesters say her brother - ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - remains in charge. | However, protesters say her brother - ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - remains in charge. |
Mr Thaksin is currently in self-imposed exile after he was overthrown in a military army coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption. | Mr Thaksin is currently in self-imposed exile after he was overthrown in a military army coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption. |
The latest crisis was sparked after the government attempted to pass an amnesty law that would have allowed Thaksin to return to Thailand. | |
He is still hugely popular in rural areas and in the north, and parties linked to him have won convincing majorities in every election they have contested since 2001. | |
But many city-dwellers bitterly oppose Mr Thaksin and have several times paralysed governments allied to him by launching massive demonstrations. |