Thai press announces election postponement by running a wire service article

Weird that the official announcement regarding the postponement of the elections would be an Agence-France Presse wire story, not a locally written article. Well, Thai press, what can you expect.

from The Nation:

Elections to be postponed: PM

The elections slated for next month will be postponed, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Saturday, confirming a delay in polls intended to end months of political deadlock.

"It's very likely the election must be postponed. (A delay) is expected because it will take time before the king endorses the new Election Commission," he said.

Senators late Friday selected five new commissioners in the first step towards a new vote.

But officials warned that the election body will not be ready in time and that the polls slated for October 15 will more likely take place at the end of the year.

Any pushback could tip Thailand into a political crisis threatened since last April's elections were invalidated.

Those polls were called three years early by Thaksin to quell demands that he quit.

Thaksin refused Saturday to say for how long the elections would be delayed, saying the government had to meet with the Election Commission before a date could be set.

He also side-stepped questions about the commission selection, which saw three reportedly anti-Thaksin candidates passed over.

A block of 67 senators out of 187 voted for the same five candidates, all of whom are aligned with the government.

"It is not our duty to comment on such matters. It is our duty to comply with the rules and regulations," he told reporters.

One new commissioner, Prapun Naigowit, told Thai television late Friday that he also thought October elections should be postponed to avoid legal problems.

Agence France-Presse