DHAKA: Leaders of the Thai protest movement trying to overthrow the government meet the heads of the politically influential armed forces on Saturday to try to persuade them to back their call for reforms and the suspension of the electoral system.

Thailand prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called a snap election on Monday, when 160,000 people besieged her office at Government House. That failed to defuse the protests, although numbers on the street have dwindled since.

Yingluck is caretaker prime minister until the election, which has been set for February 2.

‘The government has no legitimacy to run the country. Today, Thailand has no government and no Parliament. Today, there is already a political vacuum,’ protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told students, academics and others at a forum at Thammasat University in Bangkok on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1422 HRS, DEC 14, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor