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Thais go to the polls as PM relaxes

Election workers fanned out around Thailand yesterday, setting up polling stations for a general election which Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hopes will strengthen his hand against critics seeking his resignation.

But the three opposition parties in parliament are staging an unprecedented boycott of today's elections, refusing to run candidates and urging people to cast a vote of abstention when they go to the polls.

The election comes after a period of political turmoil since Thaksin in late February called the election, three years ahead of schedule, in a bid to reaffirm his mandate to rule amid a rising tide of criticism of his administration. Almost daily anti-government protests have stoked anger against Thaksin in the capital.

Thaksin, who yesterday morning relaxed by hitting golf balls at a driving range in a Bangkok suburb, encouraged Thais to exercise their right to vote.

"After the election, everyone should turn and face each other. It's like a game, a sport. After the whistle is blown, `tweet,' the game is over and everyone has to shake hands," Thaksin told reporters.

BATTLING ON

His critics, however, say they will keep up the battle to force him out of office no matter what the results of the poll.

In last year's election, Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thai love Thai) party won 377 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

Even without the boycott, it was expected to again win due to its popularity among rural voters, who have benefited from Thaksin's social welfare programs and other measures and form a majority of the electorate.

Thaksin has said he will step down if his party receives less than half the votes cast -- an outcome virtually no one assumes will happen.

The three opposition parties have loosely joined hands with an alliance of anti-Thaksin activists who have been demanding Thaksin's resignation, accusing him of corruption and abuse of power. They have been staging frequent, large demonstrations in the Thai capital for more than a month.

The election boycott has not been well-organized, and only in the last week have the protesters actively promoted the boycott.

APPEAL TO ABSTAIN

On Friday, student activists urged people in Bangkok to exercise their right to vote but to check the box on ballot cards that reads "abstain from voting." They handed out T-shirts and fliers with the slogan, "Vote for No Vote."

Thaksin's opponents hope for turnout to be so low in some constituencies as to make it legally impossible to certify the results.

They believe that if not all 500 seats in the House of Representatives are filled, the Constitution does not allow parliament to be convened, blocking the formation of a new government. In such a case, they hope that King Bhumibol Adulyadej will intervene to replace Thaksin.

Demonstrations by partisans of both sides this week turned increasingly aggressive this week.

In the most violent confrontation so far, some 2,000 Thaksin supporters on Thursday night disrupted a rally in northern Thailand, hurling chairs and debris before taking over the stage where opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was leading a meeting to promote the election boycott.
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