Thailand protestors block advance voting for migrants

Protestors in Thailand Sunday blocked many polling stations and disrupted advance voting ahead of next week's general elections, officials said.

Advance voting for migrant workers and students who were unable to return home for voting by Feb 2 was cancelled in 39 of the 50 district offices in Bangkok, where the booths were blocked by protestors of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), city clerk Ninnat Chalitanont said.

The protestors shut the polling centres, despite promises by their leaders Saturday that the advance polls would not be obstructed.

The protestors want Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and political system to be reformed before the elections scheduled for Feb 2.

In order to control the ongoing protests, the government imposed Emergency Jan 21 in Bangkok and some nearby areas for two months.

Earlier, the Election Commission called for the elections to be postponed because of the possible disruption and violence. But the government said the vote would go ahead, despite the protests.

According to the commission, the voting was carried out quite smoothly in some of the regions, including Songkhla, Pangnga and Nakhon Si Thammarat, but was later called off in some districts of Bangkok, said Election Commission Secretary General Puchong Nutrawong.

Large numbers of anti-government protestors surrounded the polling centres in some districts and provinces, in an attempt to oppose the scheduled advance voting for the elections due next week, the Bangkok Post reported.

Suthep Thaugsuban, chairman of the PDRC, called supporters to gather at 5 a.m. Sunday, to close election stations in Bangkok's districts.

Since November last year, they have been taking to the streets and occupying government offices, calling for reforms.

The protestors have enforced a Bangkok shutdown since Jan 13, erecting roadblocks at several intersections, although a number of protestors has been severely injured in bomb attacks Jan 17 and 19.