Red Shirt supporters claim to have 5 million signatures for Thaksin pardon
“Red-shirt” supporters of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra ended a rally in Bangkok on Saturday, claiming more than 5 million signatures for a petition seeking royal clemency for the fugitive billionaire.
The petition takes Thailand’s deeply divisive political conflict to a new level. The establishment has swiftly closed ranks. On Saturday, army chief Anupong Paochinda instructed his generals to have officers explain to the public why the petition violated procedure.
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leaders have claimed that 5,411,928 people had signed the petition by the time it closed at midnight on July 31. The government maintains that the normal practice is for a royal pardon to be sought by the jailed subject and his relatives. In this case, Thaksin has not served any jail time, but is overseas dodging his two-year sentence for corruption.
Thaksin who won the elections in 2001 and 2005 was over thrown by the military in 2006. The ex Prime Minister was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to two years in prison.
The petition, which may be submitted, next week, calls on the 81-year-old king to pardon Thaksin to help pave the way for his political return. The campaign has caused outrage among royalists and political opponents, who accuse Thaksin and his backers of insulting the revered monarch by trying to drag him into a political dispute.