Feb 2 election will solve political problems, says Thailand's Caretaker PM

BANGKOK, January 17 (TNA) - Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has assessed that Thailand's new general election, set on February 2, 2014, should help end domestic political problems. In her interview with foreign journalists of 15 international news agencies in Bangkok on Friday, Yingluck said if Thailand's new general election happened on February 2, ongoing domestic political turbulence was believed to be soon resolved. Yingluck stressed that an election represents democracy and the Election Commission (EC) is duty-bound to organize the upcoming general election and her caretaker government would facilitate it, insisting that the new general election would be organized on February 2, 2014 and if the polling date did not result in the election of all MPs for the House of Representatives, additional elections would constitutionally take place within 30 days until there would be enough MPs for the opening of the Thai Lower House. The caretaker prime minister stressed that she has opened the door for talks with other parties, especially the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), but the PDRC's demands remain unconstitutional. According to the caretaker prime minister, a coup would not solve a problem and the best thing her caretaker government can do for the time being is to maintain order and to respond peacefully to anti-government protesters. Meanwhile, more than two dozens of PDRC demonstrators were wounded when a bomb was thrown from an abandoned building to a PDRC demonstration on Bantadthong Road in Bangkok's Pathumwan area on Friday afternoon. The demonstrators, led by PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban himself, were marching from Silom area back to their rally site at the Pathumwan Intersection. Updated reports said the injured demonstrators have reached 36, all of whom have been sent to nearby hospitals. Witnesses told reporters that they heard two explosions during the violent incident, after which Suthep and other PDRC leaders left the area.(TNA)