Date:03/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/03/stories/2006040304171400.htm

International

Post-election crisis looms in Thailand

P. S. Suryanarayana

Thaksin opponent vows to intensify agitation

SINGAPORE: Thailand's voters, numbering over 45 million, exercised their franchise in a controversial snap general election on Sunday. However, the Opposition parties, which did not field any candidates, pledged to continue their protest against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra.

Comprehensive results were expected by Monday. With Mr. Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party being assured of victory in a virtual no-contest race, the focus shifted to the possibility of a post-poll crisis that the Opposition had vowed to engineer. Chamlong Srimuang, the chief campaigner against the Prime Minister in the poll run-up, said the pre-election protest would now be resumed to force Mr. Thaksin to quit.

Voting is compulsory, and Mr. Thaksin's party ran unopposed in 247 constituencies. Each of these candidates should, however, secure a mandatory minimum of 20 per cent of the ballot. The Opposition had called upon the voters to choose the "no-vote" option on the ballot paper. The objective was to ensure a no-result outcome in as many of these constituencies as possible.

Under the electoral laws, the 500-member Parliament can be duly formed only if the uncertainties of any such no-result outcome are cleared through byelections.

The possibility of no-result outcome in a number of constituencies in the restive southern provinces, where Mr. Thaksin's campaign against Muslim militants is unpopular, also loomed large on the political horizon.

Mr. Thaksin said he would like to remain as Prime Minister only if his party could secure at least 50 per cent of the vote. Debate centred on whether this self-imposed benchmark would apply to the number of seats won or the total votes obtained. His party commanded 377 seats in the House that was dissolved before Sunday's poll.