Authorities prepare new election

BANGKOK, February 8 (TNA) - Authorities concerned are preparing for Thailand's fresh election in substitute for the January 26 advance voting and the February 2 general election in some constituencies blocked by anti-government protesters, especially those in the Thai South. Retired Police Captain Chalerm Yubumrung, Director of the caretaker government-run Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) acknowledged on Saturday (Feb 8) that he is concerned over a plan to organise the fresh election, saying that more police officers will, therefore, be deployed this time in order to pave way for a smooth poll. According to the CMPO chief, who is also Caretaker Labour Minister, police will also be allowed to defend themselves, noting that a traffic police officer was attacked by security guards of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) while he was returning home in Bangkok on Friday (Feb 7). In another development, a 17-year-old man was wounded before dawn on Saturday (Feb 8), after a sound like a large-sized firecracker was heard at a PDRC rally site at the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road in the capital. The victim was sent to a nearby hospital for treatment. Persistent political protests in Bangkok since last October have resulted in 10 deaths and 601 injured cases, but there is still no sign that the anti-government protests would stop. Nine of the total wounded people remain hospitalized. (TNA)