tycoon sweeps to Thai poll victory<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Reuters): Controversial tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra
\nscored a runaway victory in Thailand's general election and may
\neven have secured the country's first ever absolute majority,
\nunofficial results showed on Sunday.<\/p>\n
But Thaksin's victory does not mean the end of the political
\nuncertainty gripping Thailand -- the 51-year-old telecoms
\nbillionaire faces an anxious wait to see whether he is banned
\nfrom politics over allegations of graft.<\/p>\n
Unofficial results from Thai television networks on Sunday
\npredicted Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party would
\nwin about 257 of the 500 seats in the lower house of parliament.<\/p>\n
Its nearest rival, the Democrat Party of veteran Prime
\nMinister Chuan Leekpai, was projected to win just 127.<\/p>\n
The iTV television station projected Thaksin would get around
\n51 percent of the popular vote, an unprecedented figure.
\nThe final official result might not be announced for several
\nweeks as revotes would be held in four constituencies due to
\nvoting irregularities, officials from Thailand's Election
\nCommission told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Chuan said in his home town in southern Thailand that it was
\nclear Thaksin had won.<\/p>\n
\"I believe one single party can almost form the government by
\nitself. Therefore, there is no question that others may try to
\nchallenge it by setting up another coalition,\" he told reporters.
\n\"I believe the people have freely made their choice and we
\nrespect that decision.\"<\/p>\n
The election does not mark the end of Thaksin's struggle.
\nThailand's anti-corruption watchdog ruled last month that he had
\nfailed to declare some of his wealth. Thaksin denies wrongdoing,
\nbut if the Constitutional Court upholds the ruling he would be
\nbarred from politics for five years.<\/p>\n
Court deliberations could take months, however, and given the
\nsize of the vote for Thaksin, Thailand's fragile democracy could
\nface a crisis if he were suddenly removed from office.<\/p>\n
In a front-page editorial, The Bangkok Post urged Thaksin to
\nwait for the court's verdict before becoming prime minister.<\/p>\n
\"With the economy still in a bad shape, the country needs
\npolitical stability to inspire confidence, especially among
\nforeign investors,\" it said.<\/p>\n
\"How can a leader whose future in politics still hangs in the
\nbalance inspire confidence?\"<\/p>\n
But the scale of Thaksin's landslide was likely to be welcomed
\nby Thai financial markets, which have been among the worst
\nperforming in the world over the last year, analysts said.<\/p>\n
Fears<\/p>\n
One of the big fears among investors before the election had
\nbeen of an indecisive result, which could have left a political
\nvacuum in Thailand and government policies in doubt.<\/p>\n
\"The market reaction tomorrow should be positive given the
\nhigher than expected votes for Thai Rak Thai,\" said Kongkiat
\nOpaswongkarn, chief executive of Asset Plus Securities.<\/p>\n
\"Thais have given Thai Rak Thai a clear mandate,\" he said.
\nSaturday's election was the first under a new constitution
\nintroduced in 1997 which was designed to stamp out corruption.<\/p>\n
Thailand's Election Commission now has powers to disqualify
\npoll cheats and call re-votes. It said the election was the
\ndirtiest ever, with a record number of complaints of vote fraud.
\nThe turnout, estimated at over 70 percent, was also a record.<\/p>\n
Even if Thaksin wins an outright majority, he is likely to
\nform an alliance with one or two smaller parties, to build a
\ncoalition that can command around 320 seats.<\/p>\n
\"I think three parties would be enough and that will make 320
\nseats,\" Thaksin told reporters.<\/p>\n
Thaksin's likely choices for coalition partners are the New
\nAspiration Party of former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
\nand the Chart Thai party of ex-premier Banharn Silpa-archa.<\/p>\n
Thaksin acknowledged that it could be months before his
\ngovernment was in place, due to the need for re-votes and
\nnegotiations with other parties.<\/p>\n
\"The whole process will probably take about two months to
\ncomplete,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Thaksin, a former policeman who built a high-tech empire
\nincluding Thailand's biggest telecoms group, won strong rural
\nsupport with a pledge to allocate one million baht ($23,000) from
\nthe national budget to each of Thailand's 70,000 villages.<\/p>\n
He also plans a suspension of debt repayments for three years
\nfor small farmers owing less than 100,000 baht each. Thaksin says
\nthe government must do more to help Thai businesses and banks hit
\nby Asia's economic crisis. He has unveiled plans for a national
\nasset management company to take over bad loans from ailing banks
\nand kick-start the economy.<\/p>",
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