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Decision by Democrat Party set to worsen country's continuing political crisisThailand's opposition Democrat Party plans to boycott snap polls slated for Feb 2, a decision set to deepen the country's ongoing political crisis.mini storageDemocrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said at a press conference yesterday that his party boycott would lead to genuine reform given the crisis of confidence in the country's political system."The people have lost their faith in the democratic system," he said.Analysts expect the boycott to lend momentum to street protests aimed at overthrowing the caretaker government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and disrupt the general election, worsening the political impasse that has set in since the latest anti-government movement erupted in late October.The Democrat boycott was formally announced a few hours after Ms Yingluck proposed that all political parties agree to set up a national reform council immediately after the Feb 2 election of a new government.The council, she said in the televised address, would serve a two-year term.Ms Yingluck dissolved the House of Representatives on Dec 9 as massive anti-government protests hit the streets of the capital and forced her to vacate her Bangkok office. She has so far resisted demands for her to resign and is on a tour in north-eastern Thailand.The protests are led by the People's Democratic Reform Committee, which wants elections to be delayed pending political reforms under a "people's council" that would root out the influence of the current premier's brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.The self-exiled 儲存ycoon lives abroad to evade a 2008 jail sentence for corruption, but is still believed to wield inordinate influence over the country through the erstwhile ruling Puea Thai party.Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban - a former senior Democrat legislator - has vowed not to let the elections go ahead, and is planning a massive rally today to force Ms Yingluck to step down. During an interview yesterday, he appeared to distance himself from the decision of his former colleagues."MPs have to make decisions according to the demand of the people," he said. "And that might be a factor as to why the Democrat Party made the decision but it has nothing to do with us."The Election Commission last Friday affirmed that polls would go ahead on Feb 2, despite expressing initial doubt that an orderly election could be conducted.Chiang Mai University political scientist Tanet Charoenmuang expects that election process to be fraught with difficulty as the boycott was effectively a signal to Democrat followers to stall the voter registration, which begins this week."They have a good number of followers, especially in the south." he said. "I'm afraid these people will try to obstruct the elections."The Democrat Party, the oldest party in Thailand, has not won an election since 1992. In 2006, a Democrat boycott of elections amid mass protests undermined the legitimacy of the Thaksin administration and preceded a military coup that unseated him.It is widely expected to lose again in the Feb 2 polls because of the Puea Thai's popularity among the rural masses of the populous north-east.tanhy@sph.com.sgSee World迷你倉