Thai PM says to reveal future on poll sign-up day

NEW YORK, Sep 18 (Reuters) Thailand's longest-serving elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said today he will likely announce if he will stay on in the top job when the registration period begins for election candidates.

A registration period is traditionally held for election candidates about a month before a poll. The Thai election had been scheduled for October, but is now expected to be held in November.

''I will be on the Cabinet. I will be the chairman of the party.

But I'm not sure whether I should accept the prime ministership,'' he told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly this week.

''I'm still thinking and confusing'' myself, he said. ''I will have to definitely announce before, probably on, the election registration day.'' Thaksin, the target of a Bangkok street campaign to oust him but adored in large parts of the countryside, has won two general elections by a landslide. He called a snap poll in April to counter the protests against him.

But the main opposition parties staged a boycott, rendering the poll inconclusive and the courts ordered a rerun. Thailand's Election Commission chairman said last week the poll would be delayed from Oct. 15, probably until November 19 or 26.

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