Protesters ridicule PM's referendum plan

Thailand’s prime minister refused again to give in to protesters determined to oust him, but offered an unconventional compromise – a referendum on his fate.

Samak Sundaravej hopes the vote will allow him to keep his job while placating the People’s Alliance for Democracy, which has vowed to continue its campaign, including occupying the seat of government, until Mr Samak quits.

The referendum will ask the public to choose between the alliance and the government, but many analysts say a simple yes-no vote is insufficient in the face of a complicated political crisis.

The alliance ridiculed the plan announced yesterday, saying Mr Samak would manipulate the vote, just as they claim he did during general elections in December 2007.

“The referendum is an attempt by Mr Samak to buy himself some more time in the office,” Sondhi Limthongkul, a media tycoon and one of the protest leaders, said.

Before announcing the referendum, which caught the nation by surprise, Mr Samak delivered a combative speech on national radio, again refusing to step down.

“I will not abandon the ship, and I will take responsibility for the crew on board,” he said, peppering his speech with folksy language.

“I am not resigning. I have to protect the democracy of this country.”

But some have said the referendum could aggravate rather than alleviate the political deadlock.

“A referendum is normally used to test public approval on whether to go to war or pass an important law. It would not be effective as a tool to solve a complicated political crisis with many conditions and layers,” said Panithan Wattanayagorn, a political science professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

The alliance is a loosely knit group of royalists, wealthy and middle-class urban residents, and union activists. It wants Parliament to be revamped so most MPs are appointed rather than elected, arguing that Thailand’s impoverished rural majority is too susceptible to vote buying.

The group has already had a hand in bringing down one government, when it staged demonstrations in 2006 that paved the way for the bloodless coup that removed then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office.

The protesters say Mr Samak is Mr Thaksin’s stooge and is running the government for him by proxy.

The government’s failure to resolve the deadlock has also raised fears of an economic downturn, especially in Thailand’s crucial tourist industry, which is particularly susceptible to concerns about political instability.