Thai political unrest sends baht reeling to 4-year low
24 Dec 2013 11:28 PM GMT
The Thai baht plumbed to its lowest in almost four years on Monday as a political crisis grew more intractable, with anti-government protesters trying to block candidates registering for a February election that is looking increasingly uncertain.
Police estimated more than 200,000 protesters rallied across the capital on Sunday to demand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra resign. She has called a snap election for 2 February to defuse tension but the opposition Democrat Party will boycott the poll and demonstrators are determined to scuttle it. The stalemate is all too familiar after eight years of deadlock broadly between supporters and opponents of Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon whose populist political machine has won every election since 2001 with millions of votes from the rural poor in the north and northeast. Opposed to Thaksin is a Bangkok-based establishment of top generals and old-money families threatened by his rapid rise and angered by his ability to influence politics from self-imposed exile in Dubai.
Police estimated more than 200,000 protesters rallied across the capital on Sunday to demand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra resign. She has called a snap election for 2 February to defuse tension but the opposition Democrat Party will boycott the poll and demonstrators are determined to scuttle it. The stalemate is all too familiar after eight years of deadlock broadly between supporters and opponents of Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon whose populist political machine has won every election since 2001 with millions of votes from the rural poor in the north and northeast. Opposed to Thaksin is a Bangkok-based establishment of top generals and old-money families threatened by his rapid rise and angered by his ability to influence politics from self-imposed exile in Dubai.
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