Thai cabinet floats referendum as solution to crisis

BANGKOK, Sept 4 Thailand's cabinet floated plans Thursday for a referendum to ask the public if the prime minister should stay in office, in an attempt to defuse the crisis engulfing the seven-month-old government, reports AFP. brAfter a special cabinet meeting held at the army's headquarters in the wake of the foreign minister's resignation Wednesday, the culture minister said they hoped a national vote could end political deadlock with anti-government protesters. brCabinet has agreed in principle to hold a referendum, Somsak Kiatsuranont told reporters, adding that the weeks-long process to frame the referendum would begin straight away. brThe referendum is to ask public opinion and the prime minister has agreed to it as a possible solution to solve the problem, he said. brPrime Minister Samak Sundaravej is facing repeated calls to resign from anti-government protesters who marched on his offices 10 days ago and have since occupied the grounds. brSamak refused again to bow to their demands in an hour-long radio address to the nation Thursday morning, insisting he would stay in order to preserve democracy and to protect the monarchy.