Thai Premier Says No Election This Year
BANGKOK—Thailand’s prime minister said he won’t call national elections until early next year at the earliest as the government promotes programs intended to bridge the kind of economic divides that fueled deadly protests earlier this year.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s comments, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, came after two separate grenade attacks killed one bystander and injured 11 others in Bangkok over the past week. It remains unclear who was responsible. Although the incidents were small compared to clashes between authorities and antigovernment protesters that killed nearly 90 people in April and May, they were a reminder that parts of Thailand remain tense.
Antigovernment “Red Shirt” activists continue to call for an ouster of the current government, which came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote with the backing of military leaders and much of the country’s royalist establishment.
