Thaksin claims Thai election win

[dr dave soul monsta]

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says his party won more than 50% of the vote in a snap election he hoped would end a crisis over corruption claims.

But he acknowledged support for his Thai Rak Thai party had dropped, and pledged to set up a committee to try to resolve the political crisis.

He said on live television he would resign if the committee asked him to.

Official results from Sunday's vote are not yet published, but Mr Thaksin said his party had won 57% of the vote.

The prime minister told a political talk show that 16 million people had voted for his party, down from 19 million in last year's election.

He said Thai Rak Thai had won 349 seats, down from 377 a year ago.

"Last year we got Grade A, now it's Grade B," he said. "There's no difference, we've still passed the examination."

By-elections

Mr Thaksin had called Sunday's snap election in an attempt to end weeks of instability over claims by the opposition that he was corrupt and had abused power.

But the main opposition parties refused to put up candidates, and in 278 out of 400 constituencies Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party ran unopposed.

The election commission said earlier on Monday that enough votes had been counted to declare Thai Rak Thai the winners.

But there were also indications of a big protest vote, particularly in Bangkok and in many parts of the far south.

Candidates in 38 constituencies - all in opposition strongholds in the south - failed to win the 20% of votes needed to become MPs, and by-elections now need to be held.

All 500 seats in parliament must be filled for it to convene legally, which, under the constitution, must happen within 30 days of the poll.

Election Commission secretary-general Ekachai Warunprapha said they planned to run two rounds of by-elections within that period.

'Not shocked'

Before the vote, Mr Thaksin said he would step down if he failed to win 50% of the vote.

He told the TV programme he was "not shocked" by the result.

"I always knew I would lose popularity in Bangkok. But people in the countryside still voted for Thai Rak Thai," he said.

But he went on to outline plans for an independent committee of eminent people - which would include three former prime ministers - to consider a way out of the country's political crisis.

"If the committee asks that I resign, then I will, if that will solve the problem," he said.

Mr Thaksin has been under increasing pressure following his family's decision in January to sell its shares in one of Thailand's biggest telecom groups, Shin Corp, which netted them and others $1.9bn.

The move angered many urban Thais who took to the streets in protest, complaining that the prime minister's family had avoided paying tax and passed control of an important national asset to Singaporean investors.

[dr dave soul monsta]

PRIME MINISTER Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand had hoped, rather cleverly, to neutralise the nationwide movement against his rule by calling for a snap and totally unnecessary poll. But paradoxically although according to some early projections he appears to have won the vote he has failed to get his people’s mandate.

It was a ‘no’ vote against Thaksin’s leadership and his corrupt and disastrous rule.

This was an absurd poll by any standards. The three leading opposition parties of the country had refused to field their candidates in this election leaving the field wide open to the governing party. As for the voters, the majority of them either chose to cast blank votes or marked ‘no’ on their ballots as a mark of protest. While Thaksin’s party got 45.9 per cent of the vote share in capital Bangkok, almost 50.1 per cent of the ballots were marked ‘no vote’.

Clearly, this is a resounding rejection of Prime Minister Thaksin, rather than his election. More importantly, Thailand is back to square one as this election has failed to end the political stalemate that had led to this costly exercise in the first place. Thailand’s troubles are far from over. We only hope the Thai leader has learnt his costly lessons from this episode. At least now he should learn to take his people and their problems more seriously. Especially, the alienated and persecuted Muslim community in the South deserves to be treated with dignity and sensitivity by the Thai leadership.

The Thai Muslims, like the Malays in the neighbouring Malaysia, are indigenous people of the country having embraced Islam centuries ago. They deserve a better and fair deal by the Thai government. No country can afford to call itself a democracy when its minorities are unhappy and estranged.

[khaleejtimes]

[PeteC]

Just got a news alert from the Bangkok Post on my cell phone. Said Thaskin was meeting with the King at 1500 hours today in HH. Maybe he'll resign after that? Pete

[buksida]

Thaksin to be granted audience with HM the King

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be granted an audience with HM the King this afternoon, a government source said on Tuesday.

Thaksin will travel to Klaikangwon Palace at Hua Hin, Prachuab Khiri Khan province.

"Thaksin is scheduled to be granted an audience with HM at 2pm," the source said. The schedule was rearranged to be 5pm.

Meanwhile the premier's Secretary General Prommin Lertsuridej said that the premier's audience was a routine visit every six weeks.

"The premier will ask recommendations and suggestions from HM the King," he said.

Source : The Nation