Thai Leader Says He Has New Mandate

Thaksin Defends Election Despite Boycott By Opposition, Abundance of Protest Votes

Kao Chantaman, a protester from Sisaket, displays the bottom of his shoe, a traditional insult, to the prime minister while watching him on TV. (By David Longstreath -- Associated Press)

BANGKOK, April 3 -- Embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra went on national television Monday evening to defend being reelected over the weekend in a vote boycotted by Thailand's main opposition parties, contending he had earned a new mandate despite an unprecedented number of protest ballots.

Appearing on a talk show with a thick stack of election returns, the weary-looking prime minister reported that his party, Thais Love Thais, had won 16 million votes, or almost 60 percent of those cast Sunday, but he left open the possibility he might step aside if a commission of elder statesmen recommended it. The official vote tally is not yet in.

Thaksin's remarks were unlikely to defuse calls for his resignation, especially in the capital, where protests have repeatedly drawn tens of thousands of people into the streets demanding his ouster for alleged misconduct. Voters who wanted to register dissatisfaction with the snap election had the option of marking a box on their ballots to signify an abstention. Partial results showed that more Bangkok voters marked an abstention than endorsed Thaksin.

"I want reconciliation for the country. I will do anything," the prime minister said during the 90-minute program. "I have retreated so many steps that my back is against the wall."

To break the political stalemate, Thaksin proposed appointing a commission to assess the crisis. He said the panel could include former prime ministers, Supreme Court justices and parliamentary leaders. "If that committee tells me to quit, then I'll quit," he said.

His offer was quickly rebuffed by opponents. Protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul and Ong-Ard Klampaiboon, spokesman for the opposition Democrat Party, rejected the proposal and attacked Thaksin's credibility.

Officials close to the prime minister admitted they had been surprised by the extent of the protest vote. But they repeatedly stressed that their party fared nearly as well as it did last year, when Thaksin won a landslide victory.

In both votes, much of his support came from rural areas, where his populist spending programs have proven popular with poor villagers.

Despite his on-air defiance, some senior party officials said Thaksin is preparing to announce he will temporarily step aside for the sake of national unity and turn over power to a loyal deputy. If so, an interim prime minister would oversee constitutional reforms while Thaksin busied himself with philanthropic work but continued to control the party and government from the sidelines.

"He would still have the biggest political machine in town and still have more money than anyone else, and the system runs on money," said Paul Quaglia, director of PSA Asia, a risk consulting firm in Bangkok.

Thaksin told the TV interviewer he has four possible successors in mind in case he steps aside. He mentioned Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who also serves as commerce minister, and the speaker of parliament, Bokhin Polakura. Thaksin did not disclose the other two.

Demonstrations against the prime minister have escalated since January, when his family agreed to sell its controlling interest in a telecommunications empire to a Singapore state company for $1.9 billion. Critics accused Thaksin of improperly enriching himself in the deal and giving away national assets. He denies the allegations.

Besides pressing for his ouster, many of his foes have also demanded he return any ill-gotten profits and be prosecuted for corruption. But if he leaves office, the anti-Thaksin movement would be hard-pressed to maintain its momentum. Some Bangkok residents are expressing frustration because protests last week in the city's commercial area blocked traffic and forced several shopping malls to close.

The People's Alliance for Democracy has called another massive demonstration in the capital for Friday. The alliance also went to court Monday to ask that the election results be annulled because of alleged irregularities in how voting booths were arranged.

Meanwhile, the national election commission reported it would have to hold new polls in 38 districts where uncontested candidates from Thaksin's party had failed to gain 20 percent of the eligible votes, as required by Thai law. Parliament cannot convene and a new government be formed until all 500 seats are filled.