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Thailand: New election could be held in July

Thailand’s new general election will be held in July at the earliest and in September at the latest, the country’s Election Commission (EC) said on April 22.
Thailand’s new general election will be held in July at theearliest and in September at the latest, the country’s ElectionCommission (EC) said on April 22.

EC secretary general PuchongNutravong said in his agency’s negotiations with the 53 politicalparties on the same day that, the polling agency offered three tentativechoices of election date: July 20, August 17 or September 14.

Also the same day, the meeting between the Thai Government and theopposition parties to discuss the plan for the election did not reachany new conclusions because the main opposition Democrat Party (DP) didnot join the talks.

DP leader and former Prime Minister AbhisitVejjajiva cited “security reasons" for the absence of himself and hisparty colleagues from the meeting.

On the thresholdof the meeting, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s ruling Pheu ThaiParty criticised schemes from the opposition to disrupt the upcomingpolls.

The political crisis in Thailand has lasted many monthsand the country’s government and parliament have not operateduninterruptedly since December last year. Meanwhile, a Thaiconstitutional tribunal has decided that the election held last Februaryis not valid.-VNA
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