BANGKOK: The anti-government protesters in Thailand on Monday held fresh rallies in the capital to press ahead with their demand to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawat, a day after they disrupted general elections in parts of Bangkok and the south.
On Sunday, voting for general elections to elect a new parliament was held in the Southeast Asian country amid an opposition boycott, bloody clashes and massive demonstrations as at least seven persons were injured in vote-related skirmishes.
The election commission officials said that 89% of the polling stations operated normally during voting across the country.
The opposition supporters tried to disrupt the vote by blocking the delivery of ballots to many polling stations and forcing authorities to cancel voting in several southern provinces.
The officials said that around six million registered voters were affected by halting voting which were called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to head off weeks of persistent protests.
It is expected that Yingluck’s administration will further plunge into instability because the government failed to pull off a successful vote.
The Thailand premier announced the February 2 elections in December last year in a bid to calm the deepening political crisis in the country as at least 10 persons have been killed and scores other have injured since the fresh wave of unrest broke out in November after her government proposed an amnesty bill that would pave the way for the Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in 2006 by the military and in self-exile in Dubai, to return without facing any trial.
However, the demonstrators say political reforms are needed before any elections are held. Moreover, they demand the prime minister to resign as they accuse her government of being a proxy of her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra.
