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Voting begins in widely contested Bangkok poll

Voters lined up at polling stations Sunday to pick a new governor for the Thai capital in an election widely seen as a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Twenty-one candidates are vying for the post, but only a handful are considered serious contenders -- including a former mobile phone company executive, a women's rights activist, and the owner of a chain of massage parlors in this city famed for its nightlife.

Pre-election public opinion polls showed the candidate for the opposition Democrat Party, Apirak Kosayodhin, with a narrow lead in Bangkok, where many voters are disillusioned by Thaksin's heavy-handed style.

The governor's post is mostly ceremonial, since the central government controls the purse strings for most essential services in this city of 10 million people, but observers say the poll still represents a confidence vote on Thaksin ahead of general elections next year.

The polls closed at 3pm. local time, but no early trends were apparent because the official Election Commission on Saturday banned exit polls.

Local media skirted the ban, however, suggesting that Apirak, a former CEO for a mobile phone company, holds a slight lead over independent Paveena Hongsakul. Authorities expect unofficial results to be announced by midnight yesterday.

Apirak has positioned himself as the candidate for those wishing to register a protest against Thaksin, whose autocratic ways have cost him popularity among the capital's relatively sophisticated electorate.

Paveena, a campaigner for abused women and children and the country's best known female politician, had been lawmaker from the Chat Pattana party, which recently agreed to merge itself into Thaksin's party. She is regarded as a proxy candidate for Thai Rak Thai, though both sides deny it.

Also expected to make a strong showing is Chuwit Kamolvisit, who owns half a dozen massage parlors in the capital which he acknowledges are fronts for prostitution. He is running as a candidate for the First Thai Nation Party, which he founded.

Nathanon Thavisin, Bangkok's city clerk, said earlier that she expected about 70 percent of the city's 3.8 million eligible voters to turn out.

The vote, however, was marred by an accident in Bangkok's Lad Prao district, where a woman coming to vote shifted her car into the wrong gear and crashed into a polling station, injuring nine people, including two 7-year-old children, said police Capt. Samluay Saensom. Three people were hospitalized, while the others were treated and released.

Thaksin, who cast his ballot Sunday, urged people to vote "to develop our democracy."

His ruling Thai Rak Thai party thrashed the Democrats in the 2000 general election, but his image has been hurt by allegations of favoritism toward business cronies.

The current governor, Samak Sundaravej, isn't running for re-election.
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