Thai rallies maintain pressure_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Thai rallies maintain pressure

Earlier in the morning, Yingluck said it was a pity that the Democrat Party had decided to boycott the elections.

Sunday's rally also came a day before the Election Commission opens party registration for the upcoming elections. The registration is scheduled to take place at a Bangkok stadium, but there are concerns that protesters will block candidates from entering.

In the past two months, the demands of protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban and his protesters have changed repeatedly.

The demonstrators initially demanded, successfully, that the government vote down an amnesty bill that would have allowed Yingluck's exiled brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return to the country. After protesters then sought to overthrow Yingluck's government, she dissolved Parliament in early December.

Demonstrators now are demanding that Yingluck postpone the election and resign from the caretaker government.

Pitch Pongsawat, a scholar at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said that as each of the protesters' demands are met, they have become increasingly encouraged.

"The opposition party is likely to question the legitimacy of the election results as a way to challenge the ruling party, as was the case in 2006," he said.

Pongsawat also said the upcoming election is unlikely to end the unrest in Thailand.

Song Qingrun, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said no basic agreements on reforms have been reached by the pro-government and anti-government groups, so the situation could get even worse.