BANGKOK, Thailand -- Anti-election protesters on Sunday (Feb. 2)
blocked nearly 10 percent of Thailand's 93,000 polling stations to
prevent the quick formation of a new government, despite millions of
people voting to replace Parliament's House of Representatives.
After the polls closed, anti-government protesters threatened more
disruptions in Bangkok's streets on Monday (Feb. 3), to continue their
increasingly violent bid to topple the popular Caretaker Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
On Sunday (Feb. 2), protesters manned makeshift barricades in Bangkok
and southern Thailand to stop voters, election officials and the
distribution of ballots.
Officials said 89 percent of the country's polling stations conducted
elections peacefully, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Protesters blocked voters at 438 of Bangkok's 6,671 polling stations,
while in southern Thailand no voting could be held in nine provinces
where anti-election sentiment was also widespread, the BBC said.
Associated Press put the number of blocked stations in Bangkok at 488,
plus "hundreds of polling stations in the south."
The final numbers were expected to be announced after updates come in
from isolated areas.
Security forces in this Buddhist-majority country did little to
intervene at blocked voting booths, because they want to avoid causing
bloodshed.
Thailand's minority of anti-government protesters were too few to
elect their own politicians, so they tried to stop Ms. Yingluck's
candidates from being re-elected, as expected.
The protesters want their candidates to seize power by replacing
Thailand's elected government with an appointed "people's council" of
400 unidentified men.
They would "reform" the democratic system so more appointees would
dominate Parliament, the judiciary and other institutions to reduce
the rights of voters and elected politicians.
"I am very happy today," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told a rally
after the polls closed on Sunday (Feb. 2), amid hopes that the polls
may be declared invalid or at least further weaken the government.
"We do not want the election to be held, because it will be a tool for
the government to stay in power," the flamboyant Mr. Suthep Thaugsuban
said on Saturday (Feb. 1).
On Saturday (Feb. 1), a gunfight erupted next to a Bangkok shopping
mall where protesters blockaded government offices to stop the
distribution of ballots and cancel plans for polls in that zone.
At least seven people were injured before security forces established
their presence and the Election Commission cancelled all 158 polling
stations in the area.
Ten people have died in Bangkok in clashes and grenade attacks among
protesters, government supporters and police during the past three
months.
Officials on Monday (Feb. 3) face the legal consequences of the
blockades, which include delays in forming a new government in
Thailand, a key non-NATO ally of the U.S. in Asia.
Future elections are required in 28 constituencies in southern
Thailand where candidates were blocked from registering in December.
As a result, Sunday's (Feb. 2) elections will not fill the required 95
percent of the bicameral Parliament's 500 seats, which are needed to
form a new government within 30 days after the polls.
During a first round of polls on Jan. 26, protesters prevented 450,000
voters from casting ballots, mostly in Bangkok.
Those 450,000 voters expect to be given another chance to cast ballots
in the weeks ahead, along with fresh polls for voters elsewhere in
Thailand who were stopped on Sunday (Feb. 2).
Some officials predicted the Election Commission will nullify the poll
results, tumbling Thailand into a fresh crisis.
If that happens, Ms. Yingluck may limp along as caretaker prime
minister or be forced from office.
Ms. Yingluck won a popular election in 2011 and enjoyed relative
stability until anti-government protests began on Oct. 31.
They cited her attempt to push an amnesty bid in November which would
have allowed her convicted elder brother, former prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, to return home and not serve a two-year prison
sentence for abuse of power committed during his popular 2001-2006
administration.
Ms. Yingluck was also targeted by the anti-election protesters when
she tried to change the half-appointed Senate into a fully elected
body.
Though her amnesty and Senate moves failed, protesters added
allegations of corruption against her administration, and demanded
Ms. Yingluck resign.
To defuse the protests, Ms. Yingluck dissolved Parliament's House of
Representatives, expecting to again win at the polls and emphasize
her mandate.
The increasingly vigilante-style protests include a class struggle by
wealthy and middle-class Bangkok residents and their southern backers
against Ms. Yingluck's supporters among by the urban and rural poor in
the north and northeast.
Ms. Yingluck's base benefits from her populist policies, including
free health care, easy credit, and rice crop subsidies.
The protesters and Ms. Yingluck are also supported by rival
multi-millionaire business interests.
Mr. Suthep's protest has lost some support among those who previously
expressed indulgence of his rallies.
For example, the staunchly royalist Bangkok Post in a Sunday (Feb. 2)
editorial described Mr. Suthep's protest movement as "an
anti-democracy mob" which was "undemocratic" and "unlawful."
Protected by bodyguards and protesters, Mr. Suthep has avoided arrest
on an indictment for alleged multiple murders committed in 2010 when
he was deputy prime minister for security affairs in the previous
government.
Mr. Suthep worked with the military to crush a pro-democracy uprising
in Bangkok during nine weeks of street clashes in 2010 which left 90
people dead, most of them pro-democracy Red Shirts and other
civilians.
The 2010 murder charge against Mr. Suthep appears to be part of his
attempt to topple the government and stop his opponents winning more
elections.
If Mr. Suthep can install his own appointed technocrats, and "reform"
the judiciary and police, it may delay his murder cases.
Mr. Suthep also faces a recent arrest warrant for alleged
"insurrection" for leading the protest, punishable by life
imprisonment or lethal injection.
Mr. Suthep is supported by Ms. Yingluck's enemies within a divided,
politicized military allied with anti-Thaksin royalists, a right-wing
"old money" elite, and Bangkok's middle-class.
--
Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco,
California, reporting news from Asia since 1978. His websites are:
http://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/animists/sets
https://gumroad.com/l/RHwa