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Thailand holds polls smoothly in opposition strongholds

Bangkok: People today voted peacefully in five Thai provinces where opposition protests had blocked balloting during snap polls last month, the first step to complete a controversial election that could pave the way for the

PTI Updated on: March 02, 2014 17:10 IST


The protesters are demanding an unelected People's Council to replace the Yingluck regime.  

The protesters accuse Yingluck of acting as a proxy for her fugitive brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

He lives in self-exile in Dubai to escape a jail term on a corruption conviction.  The poll panel was unable to announce the results of the limited polls held then as results can be announced only when polls have been held in all constituencies.  

Under Thai laws, 95 per cent of the 500 seats in the lower house of parliament must be filled for a new government to be formed.

The polls came a day after demonstrators abandoned an attempted shutdown of Bangkok as part of their plans to scale down of the protests.

Earlier in the day, anti-government protesters dismantled all the rally stages at major intersections and moved to the Lumpini Park, the sprawling green lung of the Thai capital near the central business district.

Addressing the protests, rally leader and former opposition lawmaker Suthep Thaugsuban said the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) would continue their struggle to overthrow the government.  

However, one of the stages at intersections near the Government House, supervised by an anti-government monk, has not been dismantled as the monk vowed to stay on.  

Since November, seventy attacks against protesters have resulted in over 23 deaths and 768 injuries.
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