Thailand’s Main Opposition Party to Boycott Snap Elections

Ahead of planned Sunday protests in Bangkok

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Thailand’s main opposition party announced plans to boycott a February election aimed at quelling civil protests.

The Democrat Party, the oldest Thai party and the main opposition group to the ruling Pheu Thai party, will not field candidates in protest of a failed political system, the BBC reports.

Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved parliament and called the election earlier this month in response to massive street protests over charges that her deposed brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006, remains in power behind the scenes, though he was exiled to Dubai.

The announcement comes just a day before a scheduled rally in Bangkok, adding to the most serious political protest to hit the country since 2010.

[BBC]