Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to bow to escalating protests in Bangkok, the capital, calling for his resignation, insisting that a snap election called for April 2 would go ahead, despite the decision by the Democrat Party (DP) and two other opposition parties to boycott it [see p. 47095]. Thaksin on March 27 offered to include the DP, the Chart Thai, and Mahachon parties, and his leading critics Maj.-Gen. Chamlong Srimuang and media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul [see pp. 46986-87] in a national government after the election. The offer was immediately rejected by the opposition parties and by Sondhi, who said that Thaksin had "gone mad". On March 3 Thaksin pledged that if returned to power he would appoint a "neutral panel" to draft amendments reforming the 1997 constitution.
The Election Commission announced on March 27 that the polls would go ahead, despite doubts cast by the disqualification on March 15 of 326 candidates, mostly from tiny opposition parties, ...