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Published on October 8, 2007

He said a delay in a return to an elected government would plunge the country deeper into political crisis and ruin the economy.

Abhisit said on his personal website (www.abhisit.org) that the Constitution was clear that a general election would be held within 90 days of the charter taking effect, and that meant an election must be held before January.

He believed a delay would be unconstitutional and would lead to an attempt to alter the charter. "In short, if this is the case, the country will definitely be in peril,'' he said.

He added the government had set a timeline for the election and it wanted to restore international confidence in the country's political stability.

If there is any change, business confidence will plunge and the economy will sink, he wrote. He said the public confidence that came with a general election had nothing to do with the result. "It is the people's verdict and democracy lovers must respect the people's verdict,'' Abhisit wrote.

"The most important thing this government can give to the country is to ensure a clean and fair election,'' he said.

Those calling for a delay because of fears the "old-power group" will return must change their attitude and respect the results of an election, he said.

"If the old-power group comes back because that's the people's verdict, we must let it be. We should not fear the people's verdict. If they try to block the old-power camp from returning to power, they are making a big mistake,'' he said.

He added if opponents of "old power" demonstrated against an election result, it would only perpetuate the political crisis.