Ruling party sweeps elections in Thailand

BANGKOK -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's party appeared to win an easy reelection victory yesterday, but the one-sided vote resulting from a boycott by opposition parties did little to end Thailand's two-month-old political crisis.

Unofficial early returns indicated that some of Parliament's 500 seats would go unfilled because of the boycott, which could undermine the new Parliament's constitutional authority to convene and elect a prime minister.

Thaksin, Thailand's longest-serving prime minister, called the election three years early in the hope of ending a mounting opposition campaign to force him from office.

Opponents, who accuse the prime minister of corruption, have staged daily protests outside his office in Bangkok for weeks. They say Thaksin abused his position by selling his family's $1.9 billion stake in a cellphone company days after parliament passed a law exempting such a sale from taxes, saving his family an estimated $667 million.

Thaksin, who had pledged to step down if his party received less than 50 percent of the nationwide vote, canceled a news conference yesterday and made no comment on the election results.

Two English-language daily newspapers reported today that Thaksin was disappointed with his party's showing and was considering giving up his position.

Earlier, the prime minister called on his rivals to honor the results of the election.

''If they don't respect the people's decision, this is going to be a nightmare for the country," he said before the vote.

Thaksin's party was poised to become the only party represented in parliament.

None of the three main opposition parties fielded candidates in the election. Adopting the slogan ''Vote for No Vote," they urged voters to go to the polls and mark an abstention box on the ballot.

As a result, Thai Rak Thai candidates were running unopposed in 278 of the 400 seats that are filled by direct election. The other 100 members of parliament are selected from party lists based on national vote totals.

In some districts in Bangkok and southern Thailand, where Thaksin is especially unpopular, early returns indicated that Thai Rak Thai candidates would not receive 20 percent of the eligible vote, the minimum amount required for a candidate to win.

In one district, no one was running after the Thai Rak Thai contender unexpectedly quit to become a Buddhist monk.

Opposition leaders say the constitution does not allow a new parliament to convene until every seat has been filled.

Thaksin could call new elections in selected districts, but that could mean the government would remain in limbo for months.

''People will not accept this election, and the political situation will get worse," warned Banharn Silpa-archa, leader of the Chat Thai Party, one of the three boycotting the vote.

Thaksin, a billionaire who swept to power in 2001, has served longer than any prime minister since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

He remains immensely popular among rural voters, who have benefited most from his populist healthcare and village finance programs. A year ago, Thai Rak Thai won a landslide reelection victory, taking three-quarters of the seats in parliament.

But Thaksin, a former police officer, is widely disliked by educated, urban voters who object to his domineering style and contend that he has used his position to enrich himself and his allies.

He also is highly unpopular in the Muslim-dominated southern provinces, where the military's attempts to suppress an Islamic insurgency have alienated much of the population.

After the polls closed, three bombs exploded near polling stations in the southern province of Narathiwat as ballots were being removed for counting. At least two soldiers and a police officer were injured.