Opponents reject Thai PM's claimed poll win

Thaksin Shinawatra

BANGKOK - Opponents have kept up pressure on Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to quit, rejecting his claim of victory in national elections and offer to let a panel of eminent people decide his future over corruption allegations.

Thaksin, who called the elections three years early because of growing street protests for him to resign, said on Monday he would step down if the panel of former prime ministers, ex-judges and former university heads recommended it.

The main opposition Democrat Party, which has led the protests over the tax-free, US$1.9 billion ($3.1 billion) sale of a telecommunications empire founded by Thaksin, dismissed the offer.

Leading opposition parties boycotted Sunday's polls, and the Elections Commission said 38 of 400 parliamentary constituencies had failed to produce a winner, leaving empty seats and making it impossible for Thaksin to form a new government.

Official results have yet to be announced, but Thaksin said his Thai Rak Thai party (TRT) had won 57 per cent of the votes -- a fall from the landslide win it scored in elections last year.

Ten million voters abstained -- effectively a vote against him -- or chose minor parties without a chance amid a crisis that has paralysed business decision-making and sapped the stock market, Southeast Asia's worst performer of the year.

"I want reconciliation for the country," Thaksin said on a television talk show. "I will do anything. I have retreated so many steps that my back is against the wall."

Media mogul Sonthi Limthongkul, who launched the anti-Thaksin campaign last September, said the offer was another attempt by Thaksin to maintain his grip on power and that a major demonstration scheduled for Friday would go ahead.

Constitutional chaos

The elections, which turned into a referendum on Thaksin's leadership, seemed set to guarantee constitutional chaos in the absence of the reconciliation with opposition parties and street protesters that he had sought.

Thaksin did not repeat his recent calls for law and order, seen by some as a threat to crack down on his opponents.

Nationwide tallies trickled out at a snail's pace throughout the day, but results for Bangkok delivered an early blow to the Thaksin, showing TRT had lost to the abstention vote by 50.1 per cent to 45.9.

A year ago, it won 32 constituencies in the capital.

The opposition boycott allowed the TRT to run unopposed in 278 constituencies, leaving no doubt about the outcome.

But minimum vote requirements meant some seats would not be filled. The constitution requires all seats to be filled before parliament can convene.

The Elections Commission said by-elections would be held in the empty seats, which are in the opposition-dominated south, but there is no guarantee any further rounds of voting would give TRT candidates the minimum 20 per cent of eligible ballots.

Some analysts had hoped a post-election break before street protests are due to resume on Friday could provide a cooling off period for talks between Thaksin and his opponents, an ad hoc coalition called the People's Alliance for Democracy.

But the dismissal of Thaksin's offer appeared to kill that.

"I think there will be more protests. More people will come out to join the protests and they could become more emotional," businessman Ponganan Limprajikul, 32, said in Bangkok.

- REUTERS