Thailand’s Red Shirt protesters have accepted an offer for elections to be held in November, but they are refusing to leave their rally site in central Bangkok until the government agrees to a raft of conditions.

The government made the offer yesterday in a bid to end the eight-week stand-off with protesters in the capital.

Local newspapers report the Red Shirts are reluctant to accept the government’s reconciliation plan but gave broad agreement in order to avoid losing public support.

A key sticking point is the election timing – both the government and the Red Shirts want to be in power when the budget is passed and a planned military reshuffle occurs in September.

Tens of thousands rallied at the protest stage to hear the protest leaders’ decision on the government’s proposal.

Protest leader Sean Boonpracong told the crowd it was time to negotiate and said the decision to do so was unanimous.

“We would like to, for the sake of reconciliation, enter into an agreement. We want to negotiate, all of us,” he said.

But while the protesters purport to have accepted prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s road map to reconciliation, that acceptance is highly conditional.

They are demanding the reopening of anti-government media outlets, that the military be pulled back, and a clearer picture of when parliament would be dissolved.

“[We want] the power to determine an election dialogue to the election commission. It is not within the power of the prime minister,” another Red Shirt leader Veera Musigapong said.

“We want a clarification of the timing when the prime minister will dissolve the parliament.”

Thailand has lost $2.2 billion so far as a result of the protests that have shut down central Bangkok.

Almost 50 countries have recommended against their citizens visiting and that will not change until some normality returns to the city.

Even if elections are held in November, there is still high potential for continuing political instability.

Political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, says election campaigning before a November poll could turn nasty.

“It could actually exacerbate the confrontation and …. it could end up in the same vicious cycle,” he said.

“Whoever wins, the losers will not accept and there will be accusations of fraud and so on.”

He says the success of the election will depend on clear guidelines being set now.

“A lot of this is about posturing, posturing and trying to position yourselves to bargain from a position of strength,” he said.

“So a lot of this has to do with bargaining negotiations, tactics. But most important of all, to me, is the establishment of goodwill and good faith.”