'No vote' result pressures Thaksin (CNN)

[นทร์]

'No vote' result pressures Thaksin
Official poll figures expected later Monday
Monday, April 3, 2006 Posted: 0650 GMT (1450 HKT)

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday he is open to all options after early results showed a large protest vote in an election Sunday that was boycotted by the opposition.

Abstentions -- sparked by a "vote for no vote" campaign -- were strongest in the capital and in the south, but support remained high for Thaksin in the populous north and northeast of the country, where social and economic welfare programs have benefited rural constituents .

Candidates from Thaksin's Thai Love Thai party were unopposed in 278 of 400 lower house seats.

The three parliamentary opposition parties did not field candidates and urged voters to protest the election by ticking the box on their ballots signifying an abstention, The Associated Press reported.

"If the media give me an option that could reconcile all sides, I don't necessarily need to be the prime minister," Thaksin was quoted as saying Monday by Reuters news agency. "But this doesn't mean that I will continue to be or I won't be the prime minister," he said.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/thailand.polls.monday/index.html

[นทร์]

Roundup: Thai Rak Thai appears to "win-north-lost-south"

Although the final results of Thailand 's general election on April 2 have not been announced, the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party which led by caretaker Thaksin Shinawatra Monday morning appeared to face the situation of "win- north-lost-south".

According to the latest figure, Thaksin's main support is from the countryside. Early returns showed he was getting solid support in the North and Northeast -- enough for another parliamentary majority.

The turnout was around 70% of the 45 million registered voters, compared with 73% in election of February of last year. Local reports estimated that TRT has already got around 200 seats across the north and northeast.

While in the south, Thaksin met a fatal defeat which TRT lost most of the constituencies. It appears that up to 29 candidates of TRT Party from 41 constituencies with one-horse candidates in southern provinces failed to gather the required 20-percent of votes from eligible voters in each constituency.

Unofficial results Monday morning showed that only 12 of 41 one- horse candidates of TRT managed to gather the required 20-percent of votes.

The Election Commission of Thailand will have to hold sub- sequent elections for constituencies where the one-horse candidates fail to earn votes up to 20-percent of votes from eligible voters but the same candidates would have to run and no new candidates can apply.

Meanwhile, as of Monday morning, TRT have won most of 36 Bangkok constituencies. But the problem is in most of the 36 constituencies in Bangkok, "no-vote" rate is as high as 50 percent, while TRT only got 40-percent of sustain.

Thaksin has promised not to take office if he gains less than 50 percent of the votes. Therefore, the final result of TRT's fate can not be estimate right now since the winning in the north maybe fetch up the lost in South.

Thaksin rushed to the headquarters of TRT Monday morning to hold an emergent meeting, apparently rattled by a staggeringly high number of "abstain" votes in an election he portrayed as a virtual national referendum on his beleaguered leadership.

This year's one-horse election is the first time to appear during Thai history which the three former opposite parties boycotted the snap election. And it is also the first time that so many "no-vote" polls in the ballot boxes.

The final result of the election will be announced Monday evening by the Election Committee and then Thaksin will remark publicly on his political future.

Source: Xinhua

[(-O-)Koka]

Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday ...

ฝรั่งต้องเขียน Monday กำกับไว้ด้วยเพราะรู้แล้วว่า Tuesday มันอาจพูดอีกอย่าง