Thailand's beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Monday dissolved parliament and called a snap election,even as thousands of protesters took to the streets to install a Peoples Council to run the country. After listening to opinions from all sides,I have decided to request a royal decree to dissolve Parliament, Yingluck said in a televised address. There will be new elections according to the democratic system, said the 46-year-old prime minister who came to power in 2011. Election Commission (EC) member Sodsri Sattayatham said a general election to elect the 500-seat lower house will be held within 60 days,or before February 2,2014. Under Thai election law,fresh polls must take place in the next 60 days. However,anti-government protesters,who have been calling for Yinglucks government to be replaced with an unelected Peoples Council,said the rallies will continue. Protesters accuse the prime minister of acting as a proxy for her fugitive brother and former premier Thaksin Shinwatra. Suthep Thaugsuban,the top leader of the anti-government protests,said demonstrators would blow the final whistle Monday in an attempt to uproot the Thaksin influence from the country. Over one lakh protesters besieged the Government House Monday morning,prompting the authorities to cancel a plan to invite foreign diplomats to observe the situation there. Yingluck Monday said she will remain the head of the interim government. The situation seems likely to escalate to violence so the government has decided to return power to the people and let them decide through elections, she said.
