Overwhelming victory for Thaksin

[kamui]

Thaksin claims election victory

 

Published on Feb 06 , 2005

 

BANGKOK, Feb 6 (AFP) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra claimed victory in Thailand's election Sunday, and thanked voters for their "overwhelming" support.

 

"Thai Rak Thai won because we have worked so hard and were dedicated for the past four years, and achieved many of our goals, particularly in fighting poverty, which has won the heart of the public," he told reporters as he arrived at his party headquarters.

 

"I thank the voters for their overwhelming support of my party," Thaksin said.

 

"I'm glad, but on the other hand I'm still worried. I'm glad because the people have overwhelmingly supported my party, but I'm concerned because hard work is still ahead," he said.

 

"If the exit polls are correct, Thai Rak Thai has more than enough seats to set up a one-party government," he said, adding that he still needed to talk with his current coalition partner, Chart Thai.

 

 

 

TRT leading in exit poll

 

Published on Feb 06 , 2005

 

BANGKOK, February 6 (The Nation) The ruling Thai Rak Thai Party has won an overwhelming 399 Parliamentary seats, according to Suan Dusit's exit poll.

 

The poll which closed at 3 pm Bangkok time today showed the Democrat Party winning just 80 seats, Chat Thai 20 seats and Mahachon 1 seat, according to the exit poll conducted by a unit of a state-owned university.

 

Heavy turnout was recorded throughout the day and expected to break the 70 per cent record for an estimated 44 million eligible voters. Thailand has a population of 66 million.

 

In the 2001 national election, Thai Rak Thai won 296 seats, Democrat 130, Chat Thai 30. Mahachon was established then.

 

Thai Parliament's Lower House has 500 seats comprising 400 Contituency seats and 100 proportional representation seats, commonly known as party list.

 

The Suan Dusit's exit poll gives Thai Rak Thai a wide winning margin than most previous poll forecasts including one by The Nation which gave the rulling party 340 seats. Both numbers are never sufficient enough for Thai Rak Thai to form a single party government, the first to do so through democratic election.

 

Suan Dusit didnot give the break down between constituency seats and party list seats. Parties which won less than 5 per cent proportional representation votes are not eligible for party list. Their votes are instead split between the major parties, according to the 1996 Constitution.

[Guest]

From what I see, Thais really do love Thaksin. My girl friend and her family all love him. This contrasts with the view most falangs view him.

 

Falangs should be happy in that there were no police enforcement of various laws (crack downs) just prior to the election.

 

 

.

[Khun_Kong]

Post deleted by Khun_Kong

[Hardy641]

399 seats equals almost 80% of the votes....

 

 

But every nation gets the leader they deserve... and in the not so far future there will be pay day. Just looking forward to buy a nice house for a portion of money it is worth today, as I did in 1997

[Khun_Kong]

Thaksin "G.W." Shinawatra.

 

And, off topic, but...

 

Wednesday was both Groundhog Day and the President's State of the Union Address in Amerika. It is an ironic juxtaposition that:

 

one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication

 

 

-- and the other involves a groundhog.

[jitagawn]

 

Thanks for that insight...Fucking hysterial ...

[carew66]

Hmm... a young woman of my aquaintance described Thaksin as a 'sexy man'. It's a power thing. And yep - it seems that Thais do like him.

[Khun_Kong]

jitagawn said:

 

Thanks for that insight...Fucking hysterical ...

 

Thanks. I just passed it on- not my creation. It's making the email rounds, I think.

[Mentors]

carew66 said:

Hmm... a young woman of my aquaintance described Thaksin as a 'sexy man'. It's a power thing. And yep - it seems that Thais do like him.

 

 

till now, TRT get only one seat in the South, great!

[Flashermac]

Big election victory may give Thaksin too free a hand: critics

 

Feb 07 , 2005

 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) With his resounding re-election victory, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra becomes Thailand's most powerful politician since military dictators presided over the country in the 1950s and '60s.

 

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party -- which he founded in 1998 as a vehicle to propel him to the prime ministership -- romped home in Sunday's polls, easily capturing almost 400 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives, according to exit polls.

 

The landmark victory -- marking the first time a single party has captured a majority of parliamentary seats in a free election -- follows Thaksin's equally impressive accomplishment of becoming the first civilian prime minister to serve out a full four-year term.

 

What the 55-year-old leader will do with his new mandate is a matter of speculation and, among his detractors, fear.

 

His 'can-do' CEO-style management doesn't allow much room for dissenters, and he has repeatedly shown his disdain for critics, often seeking to muzzle the press.

 

"He will be more uptight in his second term," said Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior editor at The Nation newspaper and frequent critic of the prime minister. "He will expect to be a more absolute leader."

 

His confrontational approach failed to solve the country's most serious problem, sectarian violence in the far south, where conflict with an Islamic separatist movement claimed more than 650 lives last year. Eschewing peaceful solutions, Thaksin poured troops into the region, only to see the violence continue.

 

"I think after Feb. 6, with the situation in the south, the government will add more troops and give them more privileges which will create more conflict," Kavi said.

 

Thaksin's opponents sought during the election campaign mainly to gather enough House seats -- 201 -- to raise a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and forestall a feared "parliamentary dictatorship."

 

Instead, it appears likely that Thaksin's party will gather enough seats to pass constitutional amendments at will.

 

Pasuk Phongpaichit, a political economist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, thinks the problem may not be Thaksin's near-monopoly of parliamentary power, but what he does with it.

 

"It is a pity that Thaksin has reversed many of the gains for democratic rights and liberal values which many people over the last generation fought and died for," she said in e-mailed comments, referring to street protests over the past three decades which forced democratic reforms.

 

"Probably we will effectively have a one-party state," Pasuk said. "But I would like to think that active and strong democratic movements on the part of the civil society will be able to prevent Thaksin from abusing the power of the one-party state. They have to work very hard, though."

 

Thaksin's initial political advantage was his vast personal fortune, which he employed freely to forge a nationwide political network.

 

But his winning popularity stems in large part from his populist policies to deliver money into the hands of the country's poor rural majority.

 

"No other previous governments have ever launched such comprehensive populist programs" and implemented them in their first year of office, Pasuk said of Thaksin's 2001 election pledges. "He speaks to the ordinary people in the language they can easily understand and relate to."

 

His free-spending policies -- also including ambitious infrastructure projects -- succeeded in stimulating an economy which had fallen into the doldrums after the 1997 financial crisis.

 

Like other economists, however, Pasuk warned that the vast outlays spent in Thaksin's first term and promised for his second may cost Thailand dearly in the future, depending on the world economy.