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More anti-Thaksin rallies ahead

Opponents of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday they would resume their anti-government rallies next week in an effort to prevent the embattled leader from running in upcoming national elections.

"We want to express our view that Thaksin should not return to politics again," Somsak Kosaisuk, one of the leaders in the anti-government coalition known as People's Alliance For Democracy, said.

"He should not seek another term as prime minister," he said. "He should take a rest which will make it easier to examine several allegations against him."

Massive rallies earlier this year amid allegations of corruption and abuse of power forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament and call for a snap election in April.

The poll was boycotted by opposition parties and later annulled by Thailand's top courts, leaving the country without a working legislature.

New elections are scheduled for Oct. 15 but are likely to be postponed until at least November.

A major anti-Thaksin rally is scheduled for Wednesday at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, Somsak said. Demonstrators will then march to the Royal Plaza for an evening rally.

Thaksin, who is currently attending the Nonaligned Movement summit in Havana, said he is certain that his Thai Rak Thai party will win the next election, but added that he is mulling leaving politics ahead of the poll. He is scheduled to return to return to Bangkok on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Thailand's army, which is struggling to quell an insurgency in the Muslim-majority south, held a meeting with about 1,000 local villagers yesterday in a bid to end the long-running violence.

The meeting was held under tight security at a central mosque in Yala, one of three southern restive provinces on the border with Malaysia. It came a day after the killings of a Malaysian and three Thai Muslims in the region.

The meeting called for an end to the violence but failed to come up with concrete measures.
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