04/02/2014 17:11
Thai opposition petitions court to annul election
Thailand's main opposition party petitioned a court Tuesday to annul last weekend's disrupted national election, launching a legal challenge that could prolong the deeply divided country's political paralysis, The Associated Press reported.
The Democrat Party's petition to the Constitutional Court also urges the dissolution of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's ruling party, which called Sunday's elections in a bid to defuse anti-government protests that started three months ago.
Wiratana Kalayasiri, a former opposition lawmaker and head of the Democrat Party's legal team, said the petition argues the polls violated the constitution on several grounds, including that they were not completed in one day.
The Democrat Party boycotted the election, and the protesters aligned with it forced the closure of hundreds of polling stations in Bangkok and the south, preventing millions of people from voting.
As a result, a series of special elections are required to complete the balloting. Election results cannot be announced until all areas have successfully voted.
Despite fears of violence, the voting proceeded peacefully in 90 percent of polling stations.