BANGKOK — After chaotic clashes between the police and antigovernment protesters in Bangkok on Thursday left one police officer dead and dozens of people injured, the Election Commission of Thailand urged that national elections scheduled for Feb. 2 be postponed, further clouding the country’s future after a month of debilitating street protests.

The proposed delay was rejected by Phongthep Thepkanjana, a deputy prime minister, who said that the government had no power to postpone the elections and warned that a delay could lead to “prolonged violence.”

A postponement would be a victory for the protesters, who oppose the elections on the grounds that they will probably return to power the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Her party is very popular in the northern half of the country but is despised by many southerners and members of the Thai elite.

Over the past month, protesters have raided government ministry buildings, cut power to government offices and police stations, and marched through Bangkok in huge numbers. On Thursday, they tried to raid a Bangkok stadium where political parties were completing pre-election formalities.