Re: Thailand's proud independence is specially different from honest democratic inspiration for its people
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:49:04 -0700
On Aug 29, 10:39?am, Chim <Chi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Thailand allows EU to observe next election, with conditions
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 05:55:04 GMT
Bangkok - Thailand has agreed to allow the European Union to observe
its general election scheduled on December 23 but has refused to sign
a memorandum of understanding on the diplomatically sensitive issue,
officials said Wednesday. Election Commissioner Apichart Sukhagganond
agreed Tuesday to allow EU representatives to observe the December 23
polls but said signing a MOU on the matter would be tantamount to
ceding over the country's sovereignty.
"This could set a precedent for other countries to ask for the same
thing," said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charunvat. "And
it's not like this is the first election we have held. I think we are
quite experienced because we hold many elections."
The EU's ambassador to Thailand, Friedrich Hamburger, will meet with
the Election Commission on September 7 to discuss the terms and
conditions for setting up a polls monitoring mission with or without a
MOU, sources said.
"We can't just turn up at the airport and start doing it," said an EU
official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The EU has sent missions to monitor elections in Cambodia and
Indonesia but this will be the first time it has done so in Thailand.
The EU has asked permission to observe Thailand's next election to
assure the international community that the polls are conducted freely
and fairly despite Thailand's current political circumstances.
Thailand has been under a non-elected government since September 19,
2006, after the military staged a coup to oust former premier Thaksin
Shinawatra and his cabinet.
The EU was critical of the coup and called on Thailand to hold an
election to restore democracy as soon as possible.
The junta that staged the coup promised to return power to the people
within a year, and on Monday set an election date for December 23.
The title of the post should have been:
Thailand's proud independence is specially different from honest
democratic aspiration for its people
.
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