Thais in LA met Consul General demanding the “Reform before Election” and Yingluck to resign
Thais in Los Angeles, affiliated to PDRC Southern California, PAD, and Network of Thais Overseas (NTO) requested to meet with the Consul General Jasada Katavatin, on January 21, 2014 to demand the “Reform before Election” and the resignation of Yingluck Shinawatra, the caretaker Prime Minister of Thailand. The protesters also emphasized supporting and encouraging the Consulate officials to stand on the people's side and never allow the corrupt regime to manipulate them. The Consul General promised to deliver the letter to the caretaker Prime Minister on the same day.
The letter demanded that Yingluck cancel the election and resign. In summary, it states that the February 2nd election is not legitimate due to the fact that there are 28 election districts that do not have candidates whereas the Constitution requires all districts to hold the general election on the same day. Therefore, continuing to hold the general election on February 2nd without these 28 districts is against the Constitution and it would become invalid. In addition, the number of the elected candidates would be less than 95% of the total number of MP that is required to form the parliament, according to the Thai Constitution. Another problem is that the election committee still cannot fill up the poll station officers in total of over 50,000 positions for 10 provinces.
It is certain that the forced election on February 2nd would become an invalid election, wasting 3,800 million baht ($127 million) of taxpayers’ money. Furthermore, the members of parliament of the Pheu Thai party, the majority party that formed the last government, have been convicted by the Constitutional Court on serious wrong doing cases. However, they did not acknowledge the verdicts of the court which was against the Constitution. The National Anti-Corruption Commission also accused these members of parliament and some ministers in the cabinet with various corruption cases. The caretaker Prime Minister has also been under the investigation by the commission for a corruption case. Hence, due to the ethic, rule of laws, and accountability, this caretaker government is illegitimate to hold an election. The current protests by peaceful mass people in Thailand have been attacked violently. As of today (January 21, 2014), there have been over 30 assaults, 3 deaths and more than 300 unarmed protesters injured.
The government has shown no responsibility but has been broadcasting the untrue information to the public through its news agencies, television channels and other controlled media outlets. The police have never captured any suspects. If the election is forced to take place, it is likely that there will be more violence, damages and losses to the Thai people and their country without any resolution to the conflicts. Thus, we demand that the general election be cancelled and Yingluck and her cabinet members resign immediately to allow the people to reform major systems, including political system, that have allowed massive corruptions, intimidation, and manipulation that totally ruined Thailand’s economy and social values. Thailand Reform must be done solely by the Thai people from all walks of life before the next election.
