Bangkok: A Thai court on Friday ruled that the February 2 snap polls can be delayed legally but stopped short of saying who has the authority to delay them, in a blow to embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who insisted that the voting date, fixed by royal decree, was unchangeable.
An eight-member bench of the Constitutional Court ruled that the polls announced by Yingluck`s caretaker government can be postponed.
Eight judges unanimously agreed that the vote can be postponed, and they voted 7-1 that Yingluck should discuss a new date with the Election Commission and issue a new date.
The was case forwarded to the court by the Election Commission to rule who had the authority to postpone the election, the poll panel or the caretaker government.
The Election Commission had asked the court to rule on the different legal interpretations of who has the power and responsibility to call a new election, despite a royal decree having been issued for the polls to be held on February 2.
The caretaker administration has repeatedly said it has no authority to defer the polls declared by a royal decree. The poll panel argued that the caretaker cabinet has the responsibility to seek a new election through a new royal decree.
Yingluck, who is under pressure to resign after nearly three months of street protests to topple her government, called the snap polls to ease the country`s political deadlock.
At least nine people have been killed and hundreds injured in violence linked to political unrest since November.
Protesters have vowed to rid Thailand of the political dominance of the Shinawatra clan and alleged that Yingluck is controlled by her fugitive brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006. He lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai.
The ongoing unrest, sparked by an amnesty bill that could have facilitated Thaksin`s return to the country, has pitted Bangkok`s middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother.
Yingluck, who has signalled her determination to go ahead with the February 2 snap polls, yesterday imposed a state of emergency in and around the capital city. The opposition has said it would boycott the vote to press the premier to step down.
The protesters want an unelected "people`s council" to govern the country until political reforms are carried out.
