Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday became the first Thai prime minister to win a second successive term and a single-party mandate with a crushing election victory despite an opposition campaign based on fear of dictatorship.
Estimates of final results gave his Thai Rak Thai party about 370 of the 500 seats in parliament, well above pre-poll forecasts and allowing the ex-telecoms tycoon to form the first one-party government in Thailand's coalition and coup-prone history.
An initial exit poll after Sunday's election gave his party 399 seats.
Thaksin won his huge majority after delivering on the populist platform that swept him to power in 2001 when he promised cheap health care and rural handouts.
Final results, delayed by complaints of fraud and cheating, were expected later yesterday, but Thaksin has already claimed victory, the opposition has conceded and its leader has resigned.
"The numbers are more than enough to establish a one-party government," Thaksin declared on Sunday after it became clear that he had won an unprecedented second term.
He said yesterday that he hoped to form the new government by early next month.
The Democrat party all but conceded defeat before balloting began, but had hoped to gain enough votes with its potential allies to mount censure motions and stop amendment of the 1997 Constitution, the fruit of decades of sometimes bloody struggle against dictatorial regimes.
Taking responsibility for the loss, Democrat leader Banyat Bantadtan announced his resignation. Deputy leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, young and regarded as more dynamic than Banyat, is expected to take over the country's oldest party.
Pointing to attacks by Thaksin against democratic institutions, including the press, during his last four years, critics fear the prime minister will seek to strike out some of the Constitution's more liberal provisions.
Wassana Permlab, chief of the Election Commission, said more than 70 percent of the electorate turned out to vote, surpassing the 69 percent in the 2001 election. Balloting among the 44.8 million eligible voters was mandatory, but violators are seldom prosecuted.
A police officer assigned to guard a Democrat party candidate was fatally shot in southern Thailand, Wassana said, but otherwise no major incidents were reported.
Twenty parties fielded 2,289 candidates, but it appeared that only five parties would win seats in the House of Representatives. Thaksin indicated that he would probably not include his current partner and the third-ranked party, the Chart Thai, in his new government.
Thaksin, 55, is a self-made telecom millionaire who founded Thai Rak Thai and rode to victory four years ago on public disenchantment with the country's slow recovery from the 1997-1998 financial crisis.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
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