Thailand polls to be held as scheduled Feb 2

Thailand's caretaker government has decided that the general elections will be held as scheduled on Feb 2, Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana said Tuesday.

The government would be able to tackle all the problems concerning the elections and postponement of these polls will not be the solution, Xinhua quoted Phongthep as saying at a press conference held after a meeting between caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Election Commission (EC) members.

The EC did not agree with the decision but said it would still do its best to organise the elections, Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said at the press conference.

If the Feb 2 elections go ahead as planned, the first meeting of the new House of Representatives would be delayed for three or four months, Somchai said.

The new elections would have to be held late February for 83 constituencies where advance voting was disrupted by anti-government protestors Sunday, he said.

Votes collected from the rescheduled elections in these constituencies would be counted with those from the Feb 2 elections, which was why there would be a delay in the convening of the house, according to Somchai.