Ruling Thai Coalition Wins Key Elections

BANGKOK, Jan. 11 -- Thailand's ruling coalition won a number of key by-elections Sunday, bolstering its claim to power and reducing the threat of more political turmoil.

According to an unofficial count released Sunday night, coalition parties loyal to the new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, won 20 of the 29 seats being contested, surviving what had been described as a real threat to his 35-seat majority in parliament.

The result is a vote of confidence in Abhisit, who had predicted that his coalition would win only five or six seats. He came to power last month in controversial circumstances after persuading enough lawmakers affiliated with the former ruling coalition to switch sides and vote for him.

The decline in the electoral fortunes of the opposition Puea Thai party, which is largely loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, the polarizing former prime minister who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, is likely to have lasting ramifications. Analysts had said that if the party and its allies won fewer than 10 seats Sunday, more of its members might be encouraged to desert opposition ranks for the government benches.

To add to the opposition's misery, Sukhumbhand Baribatra, a candidate from Abhisit's Democrat Party, had a convincing win in a separate race for the governorship of Bangkok, the capital. While that poll is not a reflection of national politics, Sukhumbhand did well in some wards that have traditionally voted for the opposition, and the result will further boost Abhisit's standing.

The by-elections were held to fill seats vacated when the courts banned their sitting members last month after the parties they belonged to were found guilty of vote-buying in the 2006 election.

Sunday's results will give Abhisit breathing room in which to implement his ambitious $8.7 billion plan to revive Thailand's struggling economy, which has been squeezed by domestic political turmoil and the global economic crisis.

Since Abhisit won a parliamentary vote Dec. 17, a measure of calm has returned to Thailand's turbulent political scene. The previous administration had been rendered all but unable to rule by months of street demonstrations by the People's Alliance for Democracy that culminated in protesters besieging Bangkok's main airports. The airport shutdowns are estimated to have cost the country the equivalent of about 3 percent of its GDP.

Abhisit has vowed to try to mend political divisions in Thai society, but he has flirted with controversy, appointing Kasit Piromya -- a prominent supporter of the People's Alliance for Democracy -- as his foreign minister.

His opponents, who are broadly allied with Thaksin, have threatened to take to the streets. They have won the three most recent elections and say that Abhisit has no mandate, but Sunday's results will strengthen the government's claim to legitimacy.