Thai anti-government protesters said yesterday they were not interested in further talks with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and would look at new ways to push for elections.
After two rounds of lengthy but fruitless talks with the embattled prime minister, “red shirt” leaders accused Abhisit of stalling and questioned whether he sincerely wanted to find a way out of the deadlock.
“The aim of the ‘red shirts’ is house dissolution and when the government is just buying time, there’s no use in us having more talks,” one of the leaders, Jatuporn Prompan, told reporters. “We will meet later to discuss our next move in pushing for house dissolution.”
Abhisit left for a two-day visit to Bahrain early yesterday. He has suggested more talks to find a way out of the impasse and it is still possible that protest leaders will accede to it.
The “red shirt” protesters question the way he became prime minister — as head of a coalition they say was put together by the army — and accuse him of clinging to power and putting off an election his party is not likely to win.
Abhisit’s term will expire in December next year, when an election must be called.
The failure of the talks, which was widely anticipated, will add to concerns about the protracted political stalemate in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy, which could hurt long-term investment.
However, foreigners have continued to pile money into Thailand’s stock market, one of Asia’s cheapest, to the tune of more than US$1.5 billion since Feb. 22.
“Our standpoint is clear,” Abhisit said, in an apparent swipe at ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. “The country’s benefit must come first. We all want to find the solution for the country but it must not come from one person’s desire.”
Tens of thousands of mostly rural protesters loyal to Thaksin remained at their open-air camp in Bangkok for a 17th day yesterday as their leaders planned to meet to discuss new strategies to topple the government.
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