Post date: Dec 27, 2013 4:39:24 PM
Thai army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha says he is not ruling out a coup, the government says it will ask the military to help protect election candidates.
BANGKOK, THAILAND (DECEMBER 27, 2013) (REUTERS) - Thai Army Chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocah on Friday (December 27) said he was not ruling out the possibility of a coup, after clashes between police and anti-government protesters in which two people were killed and scores wounded.
The military has remained neutral in the latest turmoil, apart from offering to act as a mediator, even though protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a fiery former deputy prime minister, has sought to drag the military into the conflict, onto the anti-government side.The military has staged or attempted 18 coups over the past 80 years - including the ousting of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 - and it is again likely to play a crucial role in the latest round of a crisis that has dragged on for eight years.
"The door (to a coup) is neither open nor closed. Anything can happen, it all depends on the situation," Prayuth said.
For now, he said, the army is supporting peaceful negotiations between the government and the protesters.
"You (the people) should support the army because we're trying to do the right thing. We're trying to avoid the unconventional way, or by using force. We're trying to use peaceful ways such as negotiations," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul on Friday said he would ask military chiefs for help securing candidate registrations on Saturday (December 28).
"I'll talk to the army chief to ask for the army's support in order to protect the political candidates in each constituency in each province as well as to look after the security of the people on the election on February 2," he said on a state television.
The call for help from the powerful but heavily politicised military demonstrates Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's determination to ensure the election goes ahead. The vote is almost certain to return her Puea Thai Party to power.
Any delay to the polls could leave her embattled government and party exposed to an escalation of street protests and legal challenges that could leave the country in limbo.
Her government on Thursday (December 26) rebuffed a request by the Election Commission to delay the Feb. 2 vote until there was "mutual consent" from all sides - an increasingly unlikely outcome after Thursday's deadly clashes at an election registration venue.
Ranged against each other are Yingluck and her supporters among the rural poor in the populous north and northeast and protesters from Bangkok's middle class and elite who see her as a puppet of her brother, Thaksin.
The former telecoms billionaire who lives in self-imposed exile, is a hero for millions of poor voters who have handed his parties victory in every election since 2001.
His opponents accuse him of manipulating a fragile democracy by effectively buying the support of voters with populist policies such as cheap healthcare, easy credit and subsidies for rice farmers.