Thai PM still standing after deadly protests focus 06/02/2010

Thai PM still standing after deadly protests

focus 06/02/2010 BANGKOK — After weeks fighting for his political life, Thailand’s prime minister has surprised many by surviving mass street protests and is likely to put off elections for as long as possible, experts said. Few think the crisis that has driven a wedge into Thai society and left 88 persons dead is over. But Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has managed to cling to power thanks to the backing of the army, which dispersed the “Red Shirts.” “I certainly felt that Abhisit wouldn’t survive this crisis but he’s surprised a lot of people,” said Andrew Walker, a Thailand expert and senior fellow at the Australian National University. Now the British-born, Oxford-educated premier has shelved his offer of November elections, and analysts believe he may try to fend off pressure from the opposition to go to the polls until his term expires at the end of 2011. “Abhisit is obviously concerned that he would lose an election and he’ll delay it for as long as he can,” said Walker. The Red Shirts were campaigning for immediate elections, denouncing a government they view as undemocratic because it came to power in 2008 with army backing after a court ruling threw out the previous administration. The protesters, many of whom hail from the impoverished north, broadly support fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and say the government is the puppet of the nation’s elites in the palace, bureaucracy and military circles..... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100602com5.html

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