Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he had no plans to dissolve the House of Representatives this year, but was not ruling out the possibility of an abrupt political change leading to an early general election either.change leading to an early general election either.
"I can't give you a 100-per-cent guarantee. We are in a parliamentary system and some political changes could lead to House dissolution. But my intention is to see the country stable until at least the end of the year, so the reconciliation plan can progress. Part of the plan is to hold a new general election next year," the prime minister said.
He was speaking to reporters at Government House after answering calls from the public as part of the "Six Days and 63 Million Ideas:
Moving Thailand Forward" campaign. Abhisit said a man from Khon Kaen had called yesterday to tell him that early House dissolution would be a better move for ending the political conflict. The man said that he believed that most Thais wanted to see peace restored.
Abhisit said he responded by saying that his government had not ruled out the idea of dissolving the House and holding early general elections, but they wanted to see a friendlier political environment first.
The premier answered four calls during the 10 minutes he spent manning the phones yesterday. The campaign, into its second day yesterday and being broadcast on Channel 7, has several television actors and celebrities participating. Unlike Thursday, when the campaign was launched, there were no system glitches because more switchboards were added.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, who was also manning the phones at Government House yesterday, said of the 10 calls he answered yesterday, only one was related to politics, when the caller accused the government of condoning double standards. He said other callers had complained about problems in the economy, the rising cost of living as well as higher debts compared to income - issues that he said are "very important and need to be addressed urgently".
Korn said one of the calls was from a truck driver, who complained that highway police officers repeatedly demanded bribes from him while he ran goods from Ranong to Samut Songkhram, and another was from a security guard, who said he earned just Bt7,500 a month for 12-hour shifts and that this was not enough for his family.
The finance minister said the government was addressing these problems through measures like pushing for higher minimum wages and introducing asset and property taxes.
He also said that government measures for bringing down poor people's cost of living was not part of a populist policy aimed at wooing votes. "My view is that the government is helping poor people and whatever measures are introduced, it is the people who will benefit. That's the main point," Korn said.