Thai news

Now I have to be completely honest and say that I don't really understand all the in's and out's of the political situation here since the coup. I mentioned in one of my posts recently that their had been a referendum on a New Charter for Thailand - well, the charter was accepted by the Thai people. According to some people there was rigging going on (I know for definite that people were given money if they said they would vote yes.....to be fair they were also given money if they said they were going to say no) and according to others that is rubbish and is lies that are being spread because not everyone is happy with the new charter being accepted. Anyway.....there is going to be a general election here on the 23rd of December and there was a report in the paper that people from the EU want to come to Thailand as observers and the IFES (International Foundation for Election Systems) have expressed concern that the forthcoming elections could be marred by electoral fraud. (The Thai's have said that they have no problem with observers coming as long as they don't try and interfere). Well, I had to laugh when I read today's paper and the comment that did it was from the Election Commission's Secretary General who said that

'he would consult with parties on Sept 10th and 11th about whether they would agree to sign a pact promising not to buy votes.'

Hmmm......

Another piece of news that got my attention today was a lovely little article from New Delhi which told the story of a wild male elephant breaking through the fences of a circus and then running off with one of the female performing elephants. Apparently it was love at first sight - the female elephant completely ignored her keeper, wrapped her trunk round the leg of the male and then followed him into the jungle. Now that is what I call news......much better than stories about Victoria Beckham's latest haircut!!!