By Trirat Puttajanyawong and Pracha Hariraksapitak
Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra defied threats of street marches by foes who demand he quit, but said on Tuesday he was willing to accept any democratic way out of a growing crisis proposed by the political opposition.
"The protesters are exerting mob rule over the rule of law, which I can't accept," Thaksin told reporters after a lunch with the army, navy, air force and police chiefs.
"I am happy to cooperate on anything, just tell me, as long as they are democratic ways," Thaksin said a day after the three opposition parties declared a boycott of an April 2 snap election he called to resolve the crisis.
Thaksin told a cabinet meeting he was willing to postpone the election if that were proposed by the opposition, two ministers said.
But the opposition leaders, who declared a boycott because they said a fair election was impossible without political reform as Thaksin controlled political institutions designed to be independent, said they were sticking to their guns.
"Our stance is still the same. We have changed nothing," Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after a meeting with the Chart Thai and Mahachon chiefs.
Leaders of a campaign to oust Thaksin for alleged abuse of power and corruption demanded he resign by Sunday or face marches through the streets of Bangkok, a move that could spark violence.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a coalition of extra-parliamentary groups, said he would face the "people's power" if he ignored the ultimatum.
"March 5 will be the day of reckoning," Sondhi Limthongkul, a media tycoon who began the campaign to oust his former business ally in September, told protesters in the early hours of Tuesday.
"We will march peacefully until the morning of the 6th to show our pure intention to request Thaksin to resign."
The boycott unsettled financial markets, which had shown signs of recovery on Monday with investors hoping the election would provide a way out of the crisis.
The main Thai stock index, which had risen 1.5 percent on Monday, fell 1.2 percent. Economists say the campaign to oust Thaksin could scare foreign investors away from planned huge infrastructure projects and cut economic growth.
A rally in Bangkok last Sunday attracted the biggest anti-government crowd in 14 years, peaking at 50 000. Monday night's gathering drew half that number and the original PAD plan was to keep the protests going until Thaksin quit.
But the core of the round-the-clock protest, the monks and nuns of the Dharma Army ("army of Buddha's teachings"), left the rally ground on Tuesday. They were to return on Sunday.
Their leader is Chamlong Srimuang, an ascetic 70-year-old general who led a successful but bloody 1992 "people power" uprising against a military-led government.
His presence has fuelled fears of violence, although there has been no sign of any so far and Chamlong says his followers will not start anything.
But mass marches in Bangkok carry the risk of violence and street violence brings the risk of a coup in a country with a long and relatively recent history of military intervention.
The army proclaimed its neutrality.
"Nobody dares to do it, I can guarantee," Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin told reporters when asked about coup rumours.
"Everybody is disciplined. Reports that soldiers will stage a coup is a deliberate leak for benefits or losses of either side."
Nevertheless, Sonthi was meeting potentially disaffected officers because the election boycott "increases the risk of political instability and increases the risk of the army being split", a well-placed army source said.
"Under current circumstance, everybody has to be vigilant and exercise caution," Thaksin told reporters. "There must be regular rotations of troops because it won't be good for them if an incident arises while they are worn out."
The anti-Thaksin campaign ignited last month when the $1.9-billion (about R11,4-billion) tax-free sale by Thaksin's relatives of their stake in the telecommunications empire he founded sparked outrage among Bangkok's middle-classes.
Thaksin won a second consecutive landslide election 12 months ago and had seemed invincible until the outrage exploded in Bangkok following the sale of Shin Corp to a Singapore state investment firm.
His support in the countryside, where 70 percent of Thais live, is thought to be still solid and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party is accusing the political opposition of betraying democracy while Thaksin takes the constitutional road.
Thai Rak Thai was expected to win the election comfortably without a boycott, albeit with a smaller majority than the 377 seats in the 500-member parliament it had a year ago.
(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler and Nopporn Wong-Anan)