Thai premier denies planning Cambodia offensive to delay election

Monsters and critics
Jun 29, 2011,

Bangkok (DPA)- Thailand will not escalate a border conflict with Cambodia in order to delay a general election scheduled this weekend, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Wednesday.

Abhisit was responding to comments reportedly made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that Thailand would use a conflict over a border dispute to attack Cambodia as a excuse to postpone the election, the Bangkok Post online news service said.

Abhisit, who was campaigning for votes in Samut Sakorn province Wednesday, said there was no reason for Thailand to clash with Cambodia and the election would 'definitely not be cancelled.'

Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads over joint claims to a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, perched on a mountain range that defines their common border.

The International Court of Justice ruled the temple to be on Cambodian soil in 1962, but stopped short of defining the border.

A 2008 decision by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to designate the ruins as a World Heritage site over Thai objections has led to several border clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops over the past three years.

On Saturday, a Thai delegation attending a UNESCO meeting in Paris announced plans to withdraw from the World Heritage Committee over the issue.

Official withdrawal would need to be decided by the next Thai government.

The general election pits the Democrat Party, leaders of the government, against the Pheu Thai Party, whose de facto leader is fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, prime minister from 2001-06, was overthrown by a coup.

A Pheu Thai victory at the polls is expected to irk the Thai military.

'If the Pheu Thai win the election, after three months there will be problems if it fails to negotiate a deal with the military,' said Chuvit Kamolvisit, founder of the Love Thailand Party.

'But if the Democrats win, its likely that the protesters will return to Bangkok,' he said.

The capital was wracked by anti-government protests from March to May last year, with demonstrators calling on Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call for elections.

The protests led to street battles that left 92 dead and about 2,000 injured.

Abhisit dissolved parliament on May 13 and called a new election.