Thai protesters hold out for dissolution date
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters refused to leave their fortified camp in central Bangkok on Wednesday, saying the prime minister had to fix a date for dissolving parliament before they would end their two-month-old rally.
The "red shirt" protesters, who had demanded an immediate election, have agreed to enter into a reconciliation process proposed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to end the crisis but take issue with his proposed November 14 poll date.
Several thousand "red shirts" remained in the camp in an area of upmarket shopping malls and luxury hotels, many of which have been shut for weeks, at huge cost to the economy.
"We will stay until Abhisit tells us the date of dissolution," said Worawut Vichaidit, one of the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
"The government should withdrew all security forces first. Abhisit has no right to set the election date -- that's the duty of the Election Commission. We don't know how much we can trust the government," he told the crowd from a stage.
A state of emergency has been in force since April 7 and thousands of troops and riot police surround the encampment, out of sight most of the time or lounging around in small groups.
Sirichok Sopha, a member of parliament for Abhisit's Democrat Party, saw the dissolution date as a non-issue and said the government needed to study the best timing, giving itself scope to pass the budget for the fiscal year from October, for example.
"Regarding the election law, which states that the house dissolution should happen 45 days to 60 days before the election date, we can calculate that dissolution should be from September 15 to 30, which the UDD should be able to calculate themselves," he told reporters.
Little movement in the peace process was likely on Wednesday, neither side wanting to be seen as disrespectful to Thailand's revered monarch on Coronation Day, a public holiday. Abhisit has to attend official functions but was thought unlikely to speak.
Monks chanted on the stage at the "red shirt" protest camp and offered prayers for 82-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
He has been in hospital since last September but made a rare trip out on Wednesday for a royal ceremony, and people lined the road to and from the Grand Palace to catch a glimpse of him. He did not speak at the ceremony.
STOCKS MAY SLIP
Thai financial markets were closed for Coronation Day, but on Tuesday, before the red shirt questioning of the election date, the stock market jumped 4.4 percent to 796.86 points as investors focussed on a possible end to the unrest that has devastated tourism, hurt confidence and deterred investment.
"The Thai market digested all the positive news on Tuesday when the index rose more than 30 points. There is a chance of a
correction with support at around 760-780," said Kavee Chukitkasem, head of research at Kasikorn Securities.
Asked about the protesters' refusal to disperse, he said: "It's a negative factor hanging over the market ... We expect profit-taking the rest of this week."
The cost of insuring Thailand's debt against default widened sharply to near its highest in a year, although sovereign credit default swaps elsewhere in the region also widened in a global trend prompted by the Greek debt crisis.
The red shirts mostly back former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, but more broadly they have developed into a movement of the rural and urban poor opposed to the power wielded by the aristocracy, army, business elite and Bangkok middle class.
They say Abhisit came to power illegitimately in December 2008 when a pro-Thaksin administration fell after a court case and a new coalition was formed with the prodding of the military.
The timing of elections is the most contentious issue in the plan floated by Abhisit on Monday to end a crisis in which 27 people were killed last month and nearly 1,000 wounded.
Analysts say both sides want to be in power in September for a reshuffle of the powerful military and police forces, and for the passing of the national budget.
If Thaksin's camp prevails and is governing at the time of the military reshuffle, analysts expect big changes including the ousting of generals allied with Thailand's royalist elite, a prospect royalists fear could diminish the power of the monarchy.
Abhisit has set five broad conditions for reconciliation that must be agreed before any election.
The first is that the monarchy should not be dragged into politics or "violated." That follows government accusations some "red shirts" aim to overthrow the monarchy, which they deny.
The other proposals call for reforms to address social injustice, a big red shirt grievance, an independent body to monitor media bias, an inquiry into recent political violence and reforms that could include constitutional amendments and a review of a five-year ban on politicians allied with Thaksin.
(Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Alex Richardson)