tycoon sweeps to Thai poll victory

tycoon sweeps to Thai poll victory

BANGKOK (Reuters): Controversial tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra scored a runaway victory in Thailand's general election and may even have secured the country's first ever absolute majority, unofficial results showed on Sunday.

But Thaksin's victory does not mean the end of the political uncertainty gripping Thailand -- the 51-year-old telecoms billionaire faces an anxious wait to see whether he is banned from politics over allegations of graft.

Unofficial results from Thai television networks on Sunday predicted Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party would win about 257 of the 500 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Its nearest rival, the Democrat Party of veteran Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, was projected to win just 127.

The iTV television station projected Thaksin would get around 51 percent of the popular vote, an unprecedented figure. The final official result might not be announced for several weeks as revotes would be held in four constituencies due to voting irregularities, officials from Thailand's Election Commission told Reuters.

Chuan said in his home town in southern Thailand that it was clear Thaksin had won.

"I believe one single party can almost form the government by itself. Therefore, there is no question that others may try to challenge it by setting up another coalition," he told reporters. "I believe the people have freely made their choice and we respect that decision."

The election does not mark the end of Thaksin's struggle. Thailand's anti-corruption watchdog ruled last month that he had failed to declare some of his wealth. Thaksin denies wrongdoing, but if the Constitutional Court upholds the ruling he would be barred from politics for five years.

Court deliberations could take months, however, and given the size of the vote for Thaksin, Thailand's fragile democracy could face a crisis if he were suddenly removed from office.

In a front-page editorial, The Bangkok Post urged Thaksin to wait for the court's verdict before becoming prime minister.

"With the economy still in a bad shape, the country needs political stability to inspire confidence, especially among foreign investors," it said.

"How can a leader whose future in politics still hangs in the balance inspire confidence?"

But the scale of Thaksin's landslide was likely to be welcomed by Thai financial markets, which have been among the worst performing in the world over the last year, analysts said.

Fears

One of the big fears among investors before the election had been of an indecisive result, which could have left a political vacuum in Thailand and government policies in doubt.

"The market reaction tomorrow should be positive given the higher than expected votes for Thai Rak Thai," said Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, chief executive of Asset Plus Securities.

"Thais have given Thai Rak Thai a clear mandate," he said. Saturday's election was the first under a new constitution introduced in 1997 which was designed to stamp out corruption.

Thailand's Election Commission now has powers to disqualify poll cheats and call re-votes. It said the election was the dirtiest ever, with a record number of complaints of vote fraud. The turnout, estimated at over 70 percent, was also a record.

Even if Thaksin wins an outright majority, he is likely to form an alliance with one or two smaller parties, to build a coalition that can command around 320 seats.

"I think three parties would be enough and that will make 320 seats," Thaksin told reporters.

Thaksin's likely choices for coalition partners are the New Aspiration Party of former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and the Chart Thai party of ex-premier Banharn Silpa-archa.

Thaksin acknowledged that it could be months before his government was in place, due to the need for re-votes and negotiations with other parties.

"The whole process will probably take about two months to complete," he told reporters.

Thaksin, a former policeman who built a high-tech empire including Thailand's biggest telecoms group, won strong rural support with a pledge to allocate one million baht ($23,000) from the national budget to each of Thailand's 70,000 villages.

He also plans a suspension of debt repayments for three years for small farmers owing less than 100,000 baht each. Thaksin says the government must do more to help Thai businesses and banks hit by Asia's economic crisis. He has unveiled plans for a national asset management company to take over bad loans from ailing banks and kick-start the economy.