By Ambika Ahuja
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hopes faded in Thailand on Thursday for a swift end to weeks of deadly protests after both sides accused each other of insincerity and squabbled over a "national reconciliation" plan calling for November elections.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would dissolve parliament in the second half of September, responding to calls by thousands of anti-government protesters for a specific election timetable to end a crisis that has killed 27 people, wounded more than 1,000 and damaged Thailand's economy.
But that failed to convince thousands of the mostly rural and urban poor red-shirted protesters who remained encamped in a 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) stretch of upscale department stores, hotels and expensive apartments they've occupied since April 3.
"We still have problems with many issues," Nattawut Saikua, a "red shirt" leader, told reporters. They had yet to agree to Abhisit's offer of a November 14 election, he added.
The supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appeared to be setting up for an even longer stay in what has become a tented city-within-a-city.
More mobile washrooms were brought in and elevated wooden planks were laid on the ground to avoid rain-slicked streets as Thailand moves into a tropical monsoon season.
Nattawut questioned whether the plan proposed by Abhisit this week had support from the government's traditional backers -- after a group representing the interests of the royalist aristocracy and elite establishment condemned the plan.
The "yellow shirts", whose eight-day occupation of Bangkok's airport in 2008 helped bring down a Thaksin-allied government, said Abhisit should resign if he cannot enforce the law.
They added the plan could pave the way for an amnesty for banned politicians allied with Thaksin, a graft-convicted populist multimillionaire ousted in a 2006 military coup.
"That would be a collusion of the government and terrorists and a betrayal of the public," the group's spokesman, Suriyasai Katasila, told reporters.
DISSOLUTION DATE
The red shirts, formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, had demanded immediate elections that Thaksin's allies would probably win, and say the ruling coalition lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a controversial parliamentary vote 17 months ago.
They targeted the shopping district as a symbol of wealth out of reach to rural masses in a country with one of Asia's widest income disparities.
Protest leaders are demanding a specific date for dissolution of parliament -- a technicality analysts said was probably an excuse to negotiate better terms or to help protest leaders escape possible terrorism charges once the rally ends.
Abhisit said dissolution would take place between September 15 and 30 under laws requiring that parliament be dissolved 45 to 60 days before an election. But if the red shirts remained on the streets, he could not dissolve parliament at all, he added.
"If they show insincerity...I won't dissolve parliament," he said.
Protest leaders remained sceptical.
"The reconciliation plan is very vague and Abhisit's promise is slippery. We have to make sure what we are getting before we declare victory," said Weng Tojirakarn, another protest leaders.
The stock market fell 1.5 percent as trade resumed a day after a public holiday, broadly in line with Asian markets. The baht was also softer, as were regional peers.
Thai stocks surged 4.4 percent on Tuesday on optimism that Thailand's economy, Southeast Asia's second biggest, would see strong growth this year if peace returned to Bangkok's streets and the country's shattered tourist industry bounces back.
Retailers at Southeast Asia's second-largest shopping mall, Central World, had lost $37 million (34.6 million pounds) during the protests, said Central Pattana PCL, which manages the mall in the centre of the protest site.
But negotiations to end the stalemate could be tough.
Among other demands, the red shirts want the government to lift a state of emergency and remove troops near the site before they leave, a request the government is unlikely to meet.
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.
Anything short of that would be a setback for thousands who have lived on Bangkok's streets since mid-March and have been emboldened by an April 10 clash in which some lost their lives.
"I am not sure I will be satisfied if the election is in November. Is that all we are getting after all this?" asked Nitsara Saengkam, a 48-year-old woman preparing a papaya salad for fellow protesters.
(Additional reporting by Ploy Ten Kate; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Alex Richardson)
