Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday announced the dissolution of the House of Representatives and called for a re-election.
Yingluck made a television speech and announced her decision. The dissolution is now awaiting royal approval.
However, Thailand's anti-government protesters united as the "People's Democratic Reform Committee," have rejected the House dissolution and said that they will proceed mass street demonstration as planned despite the dissolution of House of Representatives.
Suthep Thaugsuban, core protest leader, will be leading a massive rally on Monday, which he calls "the final showdown with the government".
Since early morning, protesters have been gathering at different sites to march to the Government House in a final attempt to topple the government.
Protest leaders said the dissolution was not enough and demanded that the government resign after the dissolution and hand power to a "people's council".
Since the government took office in August 2011, it has been committed to addressing all sorts of crisis to promote social reconciliation, but divergence and conflicts still remain, Yingluck said.
Irrespective of government efforts, opposition parties resorted to street demonstrations rather than seeking solutions within the parliamentary system, she added.
Different political forces are still battling, each with a large number of supporters, Yingluck said, adding the country has seen too much pain.
The House is thus dissolved to return the power to the people at a critical moment, and let the people decide the way out for the nation, she said.
Yingluck said she hoped all parties would attend the coming election and the government will remain functional as a caretaker until then.
(with inputs from IANS)
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