Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s prime minister, says he is going to call elections before the middle of the year, and if the ramp up in public spending is anything to go by, it is going to be sooner rather than later.

– Extracted from Tim Johnston, “Thailand: a pre-election splurge”, Financial Times (blog), 8 March 2011. Previous New Mandala commentary on election timing is available here; and on “vote-buying” here.