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However, the referendum will only worsen divisions in the country. Normally, referendums are used to sound out the public on principles or policy issues. For instance, some European countries decided to hold referendums to decide whether to accede to the European Union's single currency.

However, the current political paralysis stems from the government's inability to govern the country. Samak has argued all along that he's not done anything wrong, and uses that as a reason to hang on to his office.

We are not saying that Samak is solely to blame for the current political crisis, which has already led to the worst street violence since May 1992. In fact, the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has a fair share of responsibility for triggering the violence and nationwide paralysis. But holding a referendum is not the best solution to solve the current political crisis. The decision to hold the referendum, which would take at least one month to implement, may result in the country's crisis dragging on even further. Besides, the government would have to ensure peace and social order in the country until the day of the referendum.

While it's not known yet what the referendum question will be, People Power Party's MP Suthin Klangsaeng earlier suggested asking citizens to choose between the government and the PAD. This kind of question would only exacerbate the deep division in the country.

Holding a referendum to ask the public to choose sides could also be unconstitutional and illegal because the question would not be relevant to a policy issue.

In fact, dissolving the House would give the People Power Party the answer that it wants to the question of whether the public would continue to support the party in light of the anti-government sentiment stirred up by PAD. The referendum is simply a desperate attempt by the Samak government to buy more time in office.