Demonstrators urge for political reform, by-election expected on Dec 22

BANGKOK, November 13 (TNA) - Demonstrators rallying in Bangkok against the government-sponsored amnesty bill have called for a political reform, while a by-election for a group of opposition Democrat MPs fighting against the amnesty bill is expected by the end of this year. Thavorn Senneam, one of the former Democrat MPs, told demonstrators gathering at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Rajadamnoen Avenue on Wednesday, amid widespread political protests, that he disagrees with a call for a House dissolution because the ruling Pheu Thai Party will, probably, return to power again. Thavorn proposed, instead, that the best solution to the ongoing domestic political turmoil is a political reform. Thavorn charged that the government is insincere because the draft amnesty bill is still pending in the House of Representatives awaited for a reconsideration, 180 days after it was rejected by senators on November 11. Thavorn announced that core leaders of the Democrat Party-led protest at the Democracy Monument have decided to escalate the demonstration on November 15. Uthai Yodmanee, a core leader of members of the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand, rallying at the nearby Makhawan Rangsan Bridge in front of the United Nations regional office, announced, in the meantime, that the goal of his group is to attain a national reform in the country in all areas, including education and socio-economy. Meanwhile, the EC is expected to fix December 22, 2013 as the date for the by-election for eight Democrat MPs, with a total budget at over 80 million baht. Nine Democrat MPs submitted their resignations to the House on November 12, but one of them, Issara Somchai, was a party-list MP and there is no need for organizing a by-election for him, as the opposition party can later appoint a member to replace him. (TNA)