Originally published on January 27, 2014
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A Thai anti-government leader was shot dead on Sunday in the latest episode of violence sweeping through Bangkok.
According to The Bangkok Post, Suthin Tharatin, a leader of the People's Democratic Force to Overthrow Thaksinism, led a group of protesters to a polling station in Bang Na district at around 11:30am after learning that it was still open for advance polling.
As the protesters were about to leave after the polling station closed down, they were encircled by a group of pro-government "red shirts", leading to a scuffle. Tharatin was shot in the head and the chest amid chaos.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called a national election on February 2, in which 49 million Thais were eligible to vote. 2.16 million of eligible voters, including students and migrant workers who will not be able to return home, registered for early polling on Sunday.
Violence erupted in different parts of Thailand, especially in Bangkok where 45 out of 50 polling stations were closed down by protesters. In an official statement, Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said about 440,000 eligible voters were unable to cast their ballot on Sunday.
The national election now seems unlikely to go ahead on February 2, especially after reports said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was willing to delay the vote if the opposition agreed to stop their protests.
The divide between Thailand's urban elite and rural north is hard to bridge. By offering cheap healthcare and hefty subsidies for rice farmers, Yingluck managed to woo voters in the north. However, urban elites and royalists believed she was a puppet of her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living abroad after ousted in a coup in 2006. Yingluck tried to pass a controversial amnesty law that would allow Thaksin to return the country without serving any jail time in November.
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