Thai government says no delay of election

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at the Army Club before a cabinet meeting in Bangkok January 28, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

"Someone fired shots. One protester was hurt and the man who fired the shots was hurt too. They have been sent to different hospitals," Chumpol Jumsai, a protest leader who was at the facility in north Bangkok, told Reuters.

The shots were fired far away from where the meeting was taking place and near where about 500 anti-government protesters had gathered.

Yingluck dissolved parliament in December and called the election to try to appease protesters trying to overthrow her. They have rejected the election, wanting political reform before any poll, and on Sunday they prevented advance voting in many parts of the capital.

"Today, we are here to show the government what obstacles lie ahead if it holds the February 2 election," Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a member of the Election Commission, told reporters as he went into the meeting.

"We believe chaos will ensue ... Our new recommendation is to hold elections within three or four months," he added.

The Commission believes security cannot be guaranteed on Feb 2. It also says candidates have been unable to register in some constituencies, meaning there would not be a quorum to open parliament even if voting went ahead.

The protesters had gathered at the Army Club compound in Bangkok where Yingluck held a cabinet meeting before meeting the Election Commission.

The protests are the latest eruption in a political conflict that has gripped Thailand for eight years and which is starting to hurt growth and investor confidence in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

Data on Tuesday showed manufacturing output fell in December for the ninth month running, with the political woes adding to problems caused by weak exports.

The conflict broadly pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural backers of Yingluck and her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protesters want to suspend what they say is a fragile democracy destabilised by former telecoms tycoon Thaksin, whom they accuse of nepotism and corruption. They want to eradicate the political influence of his family by altering electoral arrangements in ways they have not spelt out.