Thailand's Election Commission said a contentious election planned for next week should be postponed for at least a month, warning of more bloodshed after violent clashes over the weekend. The commission meets embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday to discuss the election date after a Constitutional Court ruling opened the way for a delay in the face of months of anti-government protests in the capital. "As election officials, it is our job to make sure elections are successful, but we also need to make sure the country is peaceful enough to hold the election. We don't want it to be bloody," Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a Commission member, told Reuters on Monday. Interior Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan, also head of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told Reuters the government would not back down on the date. "We have to press ahead with the Feb. 2 election ... A postponement would be futile and would only give independent organisations more time to target the government," he said.
