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Thailand polls end peacefully

SINGAPORE: Thailand’s newly-formed People’s Power Party (PPP), seen as a proxy for the deposed leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, surged ahead in the exit polls, as voting ended on a peaceful note on Sunday in what was billed as a democracy-restoring general election.

Official results are not expected immediately; and Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who ousted Mr. Thaksin in a bloodless military coup in September 2006, has already expressed willingness to accept the results of this election. Gen. Sonthi, Deputy Prime Minister since his recent retirement as Army Chief, is however authorised by the military-installed government of Surayud Chulanont to assess the fairness of campaigns by candidates.

Gen. Sonthi cast ballot in advance polling in Bangkok a few days ago, while Gen. Surayud voted on Sunday. Polling was smooth across the country, including the three restive southern provinces hit by “Muslim insurgency” in the majority-Buddhist kingdom.

Speaking earlier in Hong Kong, Mr. Thaksin, in self-imposed exile since his ouster, said he might return home by mid-February next year after the formation of “a government of national reconciliation.”

While PPP was projected, in one exit poll, to win 256 seats in the 480-member new Parliament, the party was expected to cross the 200-mark as just the front-runner, in another survey according to reports from Bangkok. Thailand’s oldest Democrat party, led by Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjejiva, was placed second, with differing tallies, in all exit polls.

The PPP, led by the former Bangkok Governor, Samak Sundaravej, with an “earthy political style,” consists mainly of politicians owing allegiance to Mr. Thaksin. The deposed leader’s flagship Thai Rak Thai party was disbanded following an order in May by a tribunal appointed by the ruling junta. That party was accused of resorting to fraudulent practices in the April 2006 snap general election, which was judicially annulled before the coup itself.

DPA adds:

Mr. said the people’s support for his party had sent a strong message to the military which staged the coup. “The coup is dead,” he told a press conference. Mr. Samak (72), a veteran politician, said “Now the people have had their say. The numbers that came out are an answer to those people [military].”

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