Samak Sundaravej, the leader of the People Power Party, at a press conference in Bangkok on Sunday. (Photo: Chumsak Kanoknan/Getty Images)December 24, 2007
By SETH MYDANS and THOMAS FULLER The New York Times (USA)
BANGKOK — A party that backs former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a parliamentary election on Sunday, defeating a party backed by the generals who ousted him in a coup 15 months ago.
The election result was a repudiation of the generals, who had worked hard to discredit Mr. Thaksin and neutralize his supporters. But the shape of the next government remained in question.
With 95 percent of the votes counted, the pro-Thaksin People Power Party had won 228 of the 480 seats in Parliament, less than a majority but enough to try to form a coalition government.
The Democrat Party, backed by the generals and the political establishment, won 166 seats.
The strong showing means that Mr. Thaksin and his supporters will remain a force in Thai politics whether or not they form a government, and ensures that a struggle for power will continue in this deeply divided country.
The military and political establishment oppose the pro-Thaksin party, known as the P.P.P., meaning that other parties might come under intense pressure not to join it in a coalition.
“It’s quite clear that P.P.P. in the next few days will try to form a government,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “But their legitimacy will be challenged by the Democrats and other parties.”
The P.P.P. leader, Samak Sundaravej, said that he had received congratulations by telephone from Mr. Thaksin and that he had already approached smaller parties to discuss forming a coalition government. One message of the vote, he said, is that if anyone is thinking of staging another coup, “Please think carefully.”
The P.P.P. said during the campaign that it would bring Mr. Thaksin back from his self-exile in London, where he is believed to have remained politically active behind the scenes.
The leader of the Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, conceded defeat, saying: “Now it is the duty of the leaders of the P.P.P. to invite other parties to form a government. And it is the right of other party leaders to make a decision on what is the best for the country.”
He added, “If the P.P.P. is unable to form a government, the Democrat Party is ready to take the lead and form a government.”
However, analysts said the win was not as overwhelming as it at first appeared, noting that the Democrat Party seemed to have won in the most crucial area, Bangkok. And the vote was close on slates of candidates listed by their party affiliations.
During the rule of the junta, a court disbanded Mr. Thaksin’s former party, Thai Rak Thai, for election irregularities and barred him and 110 other party executives from politics for five years. The P.P.P. said it would pardon them all; under Thailand’s election laws, though, Mr. Thaksin could not become prime minister in the current government because he would not be an elected member of Parliament.
The vote was seen as part of a long-running clash of cultures that became acute during Mr. Thaksin’s six years in power. With a broad array of populist programs, he mobilized the electoral power of the country’s rural majority, threatening the traditional domination of an established elite that includes the bureaucracy and military.
“I voted for Thaksin’s party,” said Siriporn Buntam, the owner of a small restaurant in the rice-growing province of Lopburi, west of Bangkok. “Only when he was prime minister did we really get attention,” she said.
Sanit Chutipattana, 58, a salesman in Yala, in the Democrat Party’s stronghold in southern Thailand, also supported Mr. Thaksin. “Thaksin is smarter, better in economics,” he said. “In the past I had voted for Democrats, but this time I changed my mind. It’s time to change.”
The groundswell of support for Mr. Thaksin became evident as the campaign proceeded. The appointed civilian government had been seen as ineffectual, and the Democrats failed to capitalize on Mr. Thaksin’s troubles.
When they seized power, the generals said they were doing so in the name of democracy and promised to return the country to civilian rule. But they produced a new Constitution that weakened democratic institutions and shifted power from the executive branch while guaranteeing the influence of the military.
Under an internal security law adopted last week, the military will have the power to intervene in the political process without consultation with the civilian government.
Last August, as the law was being drafted, Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, branded it “a silent coup.”
The election result was a repudiation of the generals, who had worked hard to discredit Mr. Thaksin and neutralize his supporters. But the shape of the next government remained in question.
With 95 percent of the votes counted, the pro-Thaksin People Power Party had won 228 of the 480 seats in Parliament, less than a majority but enough to try to form a coalition government.
The Democrat Party, backed by the generals and the political establishment, won 166 seats.
The strong showing means that Mr. Thaksin and his supporters will remain a force in Thai politics whether or not they form a government, and ensures that a struggle for power will continue in this deeply divided country.
The military and political establishment oppose the pro-Thaksin party, known as the P.P.P., meaning that other parties might come under intense pressure not to join it in a coalition.
“It’s quite clear that P.P.P. in the next few days will try to form a government,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “But their legitimacy will be challenged by the Democrats and other parties.”
The P.P.P. leader, Samak Sundaravej, said that he had received congratulations by telephone from Mr. Thaksin and that he had already approached smaller parties to discuss forming a coalition government. One message of the vote, he said, is that if anyone is thinking of staging another coup, “Please think carefully.”
The P.P.P. said during the campaign that it would bring Mr. Thaksin back from his self-exile in London, where he is believed to have remained politically active behind the scenes.
The leader of the Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, conceded defeat, saying: “Now it is the duty of the leaders of the P.P.P. to invite other parties to form a government. And it is the right of other party leaders to make a decision on what is the best for the country.”
He added, “If the P.P.P. is unable to form a government, the Democrat Party is ready to take the lead and form a government.”
However, analysts said the win was not as overwhelming as it at first appeared, noting that the Democrat Party seemed to have won in the most crucial area, Bangkok. And the vote was close on slates of candidates listed by their party affiliations.
During the rule of the junta, a court disbanded Mr. Thaksin’s former party, Thai Rak Thai, for election irregularities and barred him and 110 other party executives from politics for five years. The P.P.P. said it would pardon them all; under Thailand’s election laws, though, Mr. Thaksin could not become prime minister in the current government because he would not be an elected member of Parliament.
The vote was seen as part of a long-running clash of cultures that became acute during Mr. Thaksin’s six years in power. With a broad array of populist programs, he mobilized the electoral power of the country’s rural majority, threatening the traditional domination of an established elite that includes the bureaucracy and military.
“I voted for Thaksin’s party,” said Siriporn Buntam, the owner of a small restaurant in the rice-growing province of Lopburi, west of Bangkok. “Only when he was prime minister did we really get attention,” she said.
Sanit Chutipattana, 58, a salesman in Yala, in the Democrat Party’s stronghold in southern Thailand, also supported Mr. Thaksin. “Thaksin is smarter, better in economics,” he said. “In the past I had voted for Democrats, but this time I changed my mind. It’s time to change.”
The groundswell of support for Mr. Thaksin became evident as the campaign proceeded. The appointed civilian government had been seen as ineffectual, and the Democrats failed to capitalize on Mr. Thaksin’s troubles.
When they seized power, the generals said they were doing so in the name of democracy and promised to return the country to civilian rule. But they produced a new Constitution that weakened democratic institutions and shifted power from the executive branch while guaranteeing the influence of the military.
Under an internal security law adopted last week, the military will have the power to intervene in the political process without consultation with the civilian government.
Last August, as the law was being drafted, Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, branded it “a silent coup.”
11 comments:
Monarchy of Siam Chakry dynasric reign is heading for suicidal scheme,one more time if Bhumipol Adulyadej backed military dictatorship,the reemerging Thai left wing is to challenge the dynasty once in rural grass root already in the 70's.
Watch where it is going with the southend insurgency,China may make some buck in arms supply.
with the PPP winning the election, i forseen another military coup in thailand in the near future.
It is the Thaicong politic to kill Cambodian people and to violate Cambodian sovereignty!
All Thaicong leaders come only in one color!
I never give a fuck about Thaicong politic!
If we, Khmers, want to be part of civilized people we should avoid cursing each others and other nations. Otherwise we are no different from Hun Sen.
To 12:12PM!
How civilize are you? Do you wear three pieces suit and ride a horse?
It is a fact that civilized human created those bad words for cursing to expression overflow emotion without killing each other!
Now if civilized people use bad words to curse each other then follow by the action of killing one another is another story!
In this case there can be no comparison between AH HUN SEN and Cambodian people!
AH HUN SEN is the number one curser with the use of those bad words and he is also a killer!
NOW I WANT ANGKOR WAT RETURNED TO THAILAND (RIGHTFUL OWNER).
KHMER STOLE THIS TEMPLE FROM THAILAND.
T0 6:12PM Fucken bonehead!
What land are you talking about? Tell me what land belongs to the Thaicong? Whatever the Thaicong have right now are all stealing from Khmer! The fucken Thaicong government needs to stop teaching the Thaicong population the wrong history that Khmer people owed them everything fucken things!
I remembered in the 1960 and the 1970 the royal government of Thaicong allowed those B-52s to do carpet bombing on Cambodia back to the Stone Age and created all kinds of instability and they even send the Khmer Serey to destabilize Cambodian economy by blowing things up such as the rail road tracks!
Fuck all the Thaicong aggressive behavior for killing Cambodian people and violating Cambodian sovereignty and they ain't going to shit from Khmer!
All the fucken Thaicong need to look deep into their fucken history to know where they came from before start claiming every fucken shit over Cambodia and Cambodian people!
No peace to the fucken Thaicong!
To 1:06 pm - To serve what purposes that we, Khmers, keep attaquing each others. We are, probably falling to the trap of our neighbors which their purposes is weaken in order to easily control us. For the country to be better off constructive criticism is the better choice.
To 12:28AM!
Well! It is you who said that Khmers are attacking each others but what I see is Khmers are having disagreement on certain issues!
So if you see blood flow down your head then it is an act of attacking among Khmers! But when you see Khmers having disagreement over the theory, the idea and the philosophy of how things should work out in Khmer society and it is called disagreement because no blood is flowing from anybody head!
You are confusing the whole issue of disagreement! I believe adult can disagree with each other which can lead to compromise or uncompromised and they shouldn't be fighting with each other like little children!
The fact that AH HUN SEN continue to use his arm force to attack and harass dirt poor Cambodian or the opposition party members is telling me that AH HUN SEN is just a little child who haven't outgrow his childhood!
AH HUN SEN has a little child complex!
To 12:28 am.- OK you are the winner. I have nothing to say.
12:28am is the winner? ahahhahhah!
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