Thai Premier Wins Election, but Crisis Only Worsens

Officials at an election center in Narathiwat province in southern Thailand count ballots in a snap election called by the country's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. (By Apichart Weerawong -- Associated Press)

BANGKOK, April 2 -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was reelected easily Sunday in a contest boycotted by Thailand's main opposition parties, but he failed to break a political deadlock that has provoked weeks of mass protests demanding his ouster for alleged misconduct.

Early returns showed that a new parliament may not be able to convene under Thai law because some seats remain unfilled, further aggravating the three-month-old crisis.

The heightened uncertainty comes as Thaksin's foes have vowed to intensify their demonstrations later this week. Opponents accuse him of weakening the country's democratic institutions and, in particular, improperly enriching himself when his family agreed in January to sell its telecommunications empire to a Singapore company for $1.9 billion.

Though initial returns showed Thaksin's party, Thais Love Thais, headed toward a commanding majority, large numbers of people in Bangkok registered their discontent with the prime minister by signifying on their ballots that they were abstaining.

Dozens of seats could remain vacant in uncontested districts around the country where the candidate fails to reach the required 20 percent threshold of eligible voters. The prime minister's party is running unopposed for more than half the parliament's 500 seats, according to the national election commission.

Thai legal experts said new elections must take place in the coming weeks to fill the vacancies because a government cannot be formed under Thai law unless parliament has a complete complement of members.

After casting his ballot in western Bangkok, Thaksin told reporters, "This election is very important for the direction of the country because there is a split right now." He appeared relaxed but later in the evening called off a scheduled news conference, saying he wanted to wait for the results to become clear. Election officials say they expect vote-counting to be finished Monday.

Even before the ballots were tallied, retired Maj. Gen. Chamlong Srimuang, a protest leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, dismissed the outcome.

"The problem is that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has no legitimacy to rule, so PAD will go on rallying until Thaksin resigns and Thailand gets a royally appointed prime minister," Chamlong said in comments reported by the Nation newspaper's online edition.

The protest movement plans to file suit Monday to annul the outcome of the vote and seek an injunction to prevent endorsement of the results by the election commission, according to an alliance spokesman.

"We are in for a long haul," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Chulalongkom University.

He said Thaksin could ease tensions if he took advantage of the comfortable victory to make a dignified exit, perhaps by turning power over to a deputy. "But if it leads Thaksin to become more emboldened and renew his term, it will make the crisis worse," Thitinan continued. "If he somehow opens parliament, we will have a downward spiral in confrontation on the street."