Murder is messy...witnesses, bodies to deal with, accountability etc (although that isn't such a big problem here it seems).
Far easier to silence your opponents by issuing threats and wrapping them up in litigation.
Hey, you can even massage the truth while you are at it, knowing that when/if the case proceeds to court, it will be months if not years after the election....or you can just drop the case at a later date, but by then the purpose will have been served...
But it looks good to the public, right?
Unless of course you do it so often that people begin to smell a rat. Oops.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand.
So, anyone believe that a Thai politician was wandering around in the community without armed guards? Especially after all the hullabaloo about how dangerous this election is supposed to be etc etc.