DHAKA: Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party has announced it will boycott snap elections set for 2 February.

Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told a news conference it would not be fielding candidates, saying, ‘Thai politics is at a failed stage’, reports the BBC.

Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the election earlier this month in a bid to end weeks of mass protests.

The head of the Thai army has warned the country’s political divisions could ‘trigger a civil war’.

BDST: 1658 HRS, DEC 21, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor