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Thaksin smarts over southern
losses
BANGKOK - Despite his
crushing election victory, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra said he was disappointed by the
projected loss of his Thai Rak Thai party's seats
in the country's south, home to a revived Islamic
separatist insurgency.
The mainly Muslim
south is traditionally a stronghold of the
opposition Democrat Party, which went into
Sunday's polls holding five out of 11 seats in the
three violence-racked provinces. Thaksin had
expected victories for several of his 11
candidates in the three southernmost provinces -
Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani - but the ruling
party lost out to the Democrats in those provinces
and won just one seat in the south - tsunami-hit
Phang Nga. Thai Rak Thai (TRT) previously held six
seats in the Muslim-majority provinces.
Thaksin, who said he would delay a planned
three-day visit to the south this week because of
illness, has faced tough criticism for his
heavy-handed response to the insurgency, notably
two clashes that ended with the deaths of scores
of militants or protesters. During the most most
recent clash last October, severe violations
associated with the military crackdown culminated
in the death of 86 protesters at the hands of
security forces.
Early returns with 59% of
the ballots counted handed Thaksin's ruling TRT
374 House seats out of a possible 500, the main
opposition Democrat Party 91, current TRT
coalition partner Chart Thai 30 and the newly
formed Mahachon one.
With ballot-counting
well under way in the south, the Democrats were on
track to clinch nine seats, with TRT winning none
and just one going to Chart Thai. Media-compiled
figures based on returns from counting centers
around the country showed counting has yet to
begin in one constituency, Narathiwat province.
Thaksin said on Monday the still unofficial
results were a "wake-up call" for his government.
"The number of MPs [members of parliament] in
the south is not what we expected, it is lower than
our expectations. It is a sign showing whether
people are happy or not," Thaksin told reporters.
"The violence in the south was a big reason
[for the loss] because the MPs there could not
solve the problem," he said, adding that he would
"analyze" what has gone wrong.
Late on Monday,
after securing an unprecedented second four-year
term in the mainly Buddhist kingdom, Thaksin
conceded that his party was unable to dent the
Democrats' southern popularity. "Thai Rak Thai
lost in the south because we didn't field
good-enough candidates and the Democrat Party has
deep roots in the south. We cannot compete," he
said.
Yet TRT enjoyed a massive
landslide in all other parts of Thailand,
including Bangkok. The Democrat Party, which had
centered its campaign on winning 201 seats in the
House of Representatives, a goal it hoped was
enough to keep check of the government, failed to
reach even half of this target.
Some
33 million people, or 76% of eligible voters,
cast ballots in a huge turnout, compared with the 69.9%
of voters who turned out for the 2001 poll that
swept Thaksin's populist party to its first
resounding victory.
(AFX) |
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