BANGKOK, 3 February 2014, Center for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) Director reaffirms that re-election will be held within 180 days, but the reopening of government offices is to be postponed until February 6, 2014.
Police Captain Chalerm Yoobamrung, Minister of Labor, in his capacity as Director of the Center for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) said the election yesterday (February 2, 2014) demonstrated a democratic process. However, number of House Representatives was still short of at least 495 needed out of 500 for the House to begin any of its session, as a result, a re-election was needed to be organized by the EC within 180 days to fill in the vacancies. As soon as the EC decides on an election date, the police would be ready to help secure each polling station, or even in delivery of ballot papers to electoral constituencies, instead of relying on the postal service.
Pol.Capt. Chalerm Yoobamrung also stated that he noticed a number of election officials failed to carry out their duties during the election, the CMPO would therefore send a request to the EC to have these people prosecuted.
In regard to the reopening of government offices, this would be postponed until February 6, 2014 as protesters still remained around those government offices sites. He assured that negotiation would be a solution to resolve the current problem, and not through violent means. He also believed that the merging of People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protest stages would help lessen incitement for violent situation.
