Thai opposition leader calls for national government

Jul 3, 2010, 11:12 GMT

Bangkok - A former prime minister called Saturday for the establishment of a national government to bridge the deep divisions that triggered violent upheaval in April and May.

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, chairman of the opposition Puea Thai Party, said only a broad-based government could solve the nation's problems.

'The best way to solve the current problems is to form a national government including all sides,' he told a party meeting.

He suggested that such a government could bring about national harmony within 18 months, followed by fresh elections, he said.

Street battles between security forces and anti-government protestors who support fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra left 90 people dead and 1,885 injured between April 10 and May 19.

Economic losses, including the torching of dozens of Bangkok businesses, were estimated at 200 billion baht (6.25 billion dollars).

Thaksin, who was overthrown in a coup in 2006 and fled the country to escape a jail sentence for corruption, phoned in to the Puea Thai Party meeting on Friday and predicted he would be back in Thailand by the end of this year.

It was Thaksin's first public call to the party, which is widely regarded as his proxy, since the anti-government demonstrations in central Bangkok were crushed by the army on May 19.

Thaksin, who has had an increasingly tough time finding refuge, said he was calling from an undisclosed African country.

He accused Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's administration of deceiving foreign governments by accusing him of terrorism.

Thaksin said the government's international public relations campaign had been successful in deceiving the US House of Representatives, which voted 411-4 Thursday on a motion calling on all Thai political parties to renounce violence and pledge to resolve their problems peacefully and democratically.

Abhisit said the resolution amounted to an endorsement of his government's 'roadmap' for political reconciliation.