When the Election Commission (EC) expressed concerns to the Government about the elections and that they should be delayed, the Government did its best to ignore that and look to cite various reasons why it had to move forward. Then when what the EC predicted actually happened, Caretaker Labor Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung made very public threats to the EC saying that they would be held responsible that things did not go well. Needless to say when a party list member of any political party makes threats to the EC, the threatening political party may just find themselves disqualified with a Red Card or worse for attempting to manipulate the elections by making threats to the EC.
There is a reason anger management counseling exists, and that is to stop people from making self inflicted wounds. So trying to ram through the elections using the same thinking that got them in trouble with the Amnesty Bill and changes to the Constitution about the makeup of the Senate, similar results can be expected.
Making any type of threat against the EC who’s entire reason for existence is to insure fair elections, you can quickly see the fallout when the threat comes from a politician. So considering Thaksin’s arrogance and refusing to listen to the EC and anyone except himself, the failed voting outcome was entirely predictable as the EC had warned.
The fallout from Caretaker Labor Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung’s outburst and attack is yet to be seen, as attacking the EC is about the same as touching a high voltage circuit with results being anything from a burn to death. It is also another example of ignoring the law by making threats to the EC the same as they had done to the Judges of the Constitutional court.
So when the Government expected the EC to call in additional police troops provided by the Government, the same results were very likely to happen. The sense that overwhelming police troops were some sort of intimidation forcing people to support the Government would also be seen as tampering with the election. If the police engaged the protesters in any way, the conflict would also force the closing of the poling place and once again the same results.
The bottom line is people who lose control and get angry, always lose out in the end.
