Thai PM's foes mistrust his pledge to quit

BANGKOK - Thailand's opposition is accusing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of sleight-of-hand after he finally promised to quit after an election and weeks of protests but failed to spell out when he would go.

Even after Thaksin announced his departure in a nationally televised address, the opposition remains suspicious whether a man they say plundered the economy and perverted democracy to benefit his friends in big business really meant what he said.

"He's trying to dictate the terms of his departure," said Korn Chatikavanij of the opposition Democrat party, which spearheaded a boycott of Sunday's snap election -- one that went badly wrong for the telecoms billionaire.

Thaksin had hoped the election only a year after he won a landslide victory would bring an end to street protests that have choked the streets of the capital, hit the stock market and baht and raised long-term fears about the economy's strength.

Instead, it revealed an unexpectedly large protest vote and triggered a constitutional crisis when the boycott left 38 empty seats in parliament -- which must be filled before it can convene and a government can be formed.

Thaksin said he would go when parliament convened, but there is no clear indication when this will happen.

He said in his address that his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party had won 16 million votes against 10 million "no" votes, spoilt ballots and votes for minor parties.

But election commissioner Parinya Nakchatree said he did not know how Thaksin had got his figures.

He said the commission had results from 300 of the 400 constituency seats but would not make them public, and that totals in 247 constituencies revealed a turnout of 63.9 per cent and a "no" vote of 33.5 per cent.

The constitution says all seats must be filled before parliament can meet, but also that it must meet within 30 days of a general election.

The Election Commission said on Tuesday, however, that the three opposition parties that boycotted the election can run in by-elections on April 23 for the seats left empty -- most of them in opposition strongholds.

If the opposition candidates did run and the by-elections were valid, the constitutional crisis would be resolved. But the Democrats said they would have to check whether that was legal.

"The Democrats would look very bad if they did not run," said law expert Prinya Thaewanarumitkul at Thammasat University.

The Democrats' Korn accused Thaksin of trying to get around the election law by forcing parliament to open without the full quota of MPs.

"I don't think anybody is in a position to force parliament to open illegally," he said.

Adding to the confusion, leaders of the street protests that moved Thaksin to call Sunday's inconclusive early election said they would lift their siege of his office on Wednesday but resume demonstrations if he did not go by April 30.

- REUTERS