After the ruling Pheu Thai Party attempted to pass an amnesty bill, the opposition accused them of seeking to bring back former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-imposed exile. Protests then occurred, sometimes violent, for weeks that evolved into demands for the government to resign and the Shinawatra family to quit the politics of Thailand. Following a mass resignation of opposition MPs, on 9 December Yingluck said in a televised address that she had asked the King to dissolve parliament in order to allow the Thai people to resolve the political crisis in the country. She said: "At this stage, when there are many people opposed to the government from many groups, the best way is to give back the power to the Thai people and hold an election, so the Thai people will decide." However, anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said that the protests would continue till their demands are met in forming a "people's council", which would be unelected, as "we have not yet reached our goal. The dissolving of parliament is not our aim." Yingluck said that she would not resign ahead of the election.