The week ahead for January 27: No Thai election, but maybe a Morsi hearing

16 Photos

A look at what’s coming up on the East Coast and around the world.

Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat
Reuters
7:27 a.m. EST, January 24, 2014

BANGKOK (Reuters) – The Constitutional Court of Thailand on Friday opened the way to put off a general election the government had set for February 2, putting pressure on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who looks increasingly cornered by legal challenges to her hold on power.

The election would have joined a State of the Union, a delayed hearing for Mohamed Morsi and two large South American diplomatic events in a week of expected news.


Related links:

State of the Union: Obama aiming his message beyond Congress

Thai court ruling adds to mounting pressure on PM Yingluck

Chile and Peru see end to old differences as Hague verdict nears

Supporters of ousted president clash with security forces in Cairo


The Election Commission in Thailand sought court approval to postpone the Feb 2. vote, arguing that the country was too unsettled by mass anti-government protests in the capital, now in their third month, to hold a successful vote.

Yingluck called the election in the hope of confirming her hold on power in the face of protests trying to force her from office.

“(The ruling) is likely to be seen as part of the build-up to dislodge Yingluck from office, similar to what happened in 2008 but with higher stakes and higher potential for violence and unpredictability,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said.

In 2008, courts brought down two governments allied to Yingluck’s brother and ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who now lives in self-imposed exile.

The ruling appears to fudge a decision. It gave the Election Commission the right to postpone the election, but also ruled that the commission would have to agree on a new date with the government.

The government has refused to accept a delay in the vote which it would almost certainly win and which the opposition says it will boycott.

Varathep Rattankorn, a minister at the prime minister’s office, said it would study the ruling before deciding its next move.

One election commissioner, speaking to Reuters, said the vote could still go ahead on February 2 if Yingluck’s government dug in its heels.

“We will ask to meet with the prime minister and her government on Monday to discuss a new election date,” Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said. “If the government doesn’t agree to postpone the election, then the election will go ahead.”

STATE OF EMERGENCY

The government declared a 60-day state of emergency from Wednesday hoping to prevent an escalation in protests.

A leading pro-government activist was shot and wounded the same day in northeast Thailand, a Yingluck stronghold, in what police said was a political attack, adding to fears the violence could spread.

Nine people have died and dozens been wounded in violence, including two grenade attacks in the capital last weekend.

Anti-government firebrand and protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, accusing the government of mass corruption, wants it to step down and a “people’s council” appointed to push through electoral and political changes.

He has yet to comment publicly on the court ruling.

The protests are the latest eruption in a political conflict that has gripped the country for eight years.

Broadly, it pits the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poorer supporters of Yingluck and her brother, who was toppled by the military in 2006.

Continue reading

Additional editing by Baltimore Sun staff