Bangkok Library Digital library and information center for Bangkok, Thailand

A People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader has claimed that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s plans for political reconciliation including elections in November are premature and unlikely to succeed. The PAD appears to be scrambling for a way out of elections in which it is widely expected the red shirts would receive considerable support from the rural poor of Thailand.

Suriyasai Katasila, coordinator of the staunchly pro-monarchy PAD, said that the plan had been announced before the authorities had dealt with the “terrorists” and the movement plotting to bring down the monarchy. Accusations of lese majeste have been used on many occasions to censor public debate on the current and future role of the monarchy in Thailand, and the offenders are sometimes referred to as political prisoners by commentators outside of Thailand.