Thai's voted Sunday in a General election
Suan Dusit exit poll, the PPP won 256 of the 480 contested seats, with the Democrats coming in second with 162 seats. But another poll conducted by ABAC had the PPP with 202 seats and Democrats with 146, and several of the medium-sized parties with more than 40 seats. Two main rivals in Sunday's polls were the People Power Party (PPP), PPP is headed by Samak Sundaravej, 72, a veteran Thai politician with a right-wing past who has dubbed himself a "nominee" for Thaksin and whose main platform has been to bring Thaksin Shinawatra back to Thailand and the Democrat Party, the main opposition party Democrat Party is led by Abhisit, 43, an Oxford-educated liberal politician who has campaigned on his clean record .
Last year's coup which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra some 45 million Thais are eligible to cast their ballots,Voting at 85,000 polling stations nationwide opened at 8 am and closed at 3 pm. today on Sunday, 23 December 2007, with unofficial results expected by midnight.Very few expect the country's third election in two years will solve the country's problems. People Power Party (PPP), a political outfit for supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,was ousted in a bloodless fifteen months ago.
Thaksin would return from self-exile in London said on Friday he could be back in February if voters handed the party a majority in the 480-seat parliament. Political Analysts say the army and the royalist establishment, which Thaksin supporters blame for the coup, will try to stymie a PPP-led government by seeking to disqualify its candidates or tie up the party in legal challenges.The army and its proxies are expected to push for a coalition led by the Democrats, the main opposition during Thaksin's five years in power.
Coup maker General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, now deputy prime minister in the interim government he appointed after the September 2006 coup, urged Thais to vote for "good people and those who are loyal" to the monarchy. Rival groups, the pro and anti-Thaksin camps have said they will take to the streets if they observe the other side has unfairly gained an upper hand in Sunday's polls. Corruptible practice in Vote buying is rampant in Thai elections.
Nation newspaper reported on Sunday authorities were investigating nearly 160 cases of alleged vote fraud.Major street protests may surge another military coup as intellectual propound. Political unstability and uncertainty has worried the country's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who inspired the soldiers,police to use their spiritual "strength" to pull the nation out of its political mess. Last year's coup is the eighteenth in seventy five years of on-off democracy failed to dilute powers of Thaksin, an ethnic Chinese telecoms billionaire who won landslides in 2001 and 2005 on the back of cheap healthcare and handouts to farmers. An election Thaksin called in 2006 to rout street protests against him was later annulled.Despite his lengthy exile, the banning of his party Thai Rak Thai and inconclusive attempts to prosecute him for corruption, Thaksin remains the central figure in the political arena.
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose party may win only 120 seats according to polls, alluded to Thaksin in his final campaign speech on Friday, saying a vote for the PPP was a vote for someone who had "cheated the nation".
Last year's coup which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra some 45 million Thais are eligible to cast their ballots,Voting at 85,000 polling stations nationwide opened at 8 am and closed at 3 pm. today on Sunday, 23 December 2007, with unofficial results expected by midnight.Very few expect the country's third election in two years will solve the country's problems. People Power Party (PPP), a political outfit for supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,was ousted in a bloodless fifteen months ago.
Thaksin would return from self-exile in London said on Friday he could be back in February if voters handed the party a majority in the 480-seat parliament. Political Analysts say the army and the royalist establishment, which Thaksin supporters blame for the coup, will try to stymie a PPP-led government by seeking to disqualify its candidates or tie up the party in legal challenges.The army and its proxies are expected to push for a coalition led by the Democrats, the main opposition during Thaksin's five years in power.
Coup maker General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, now deputy prime minister in the interim government he appointed after the September 2006 coup, urged Thais to vote for "good people and those who are loyal" to the monarchy. Rival groups, the pro and anti-Thaksin camps have said they will take to the streets if they observe the other side has unfairly gained an upper hand in Sunday's polls. Corruptible practice in Vote buying is rampant in Thai elections.
Nation newspaper reported on Sunday authorities were investigating nearly 160 cases of alleged vote fraud.Major street protests may surge another military coup as intellectual propound. Political unstability and uncertainty has worried the country's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who inspired the soldiers,police to use their spiritual "strength" to pull the nation out of its political mess. Last year's coup is the eighteenth in seventy five years of on-off democracy failed to dilute powers of Thaksin, an ethnic Chinese telecoms billionaire who won landslides in 2001 and 2005 on the back of cheap healthcare and handouts to farmers. An election Thaksin called in 2006 to rout street protests against him was later annulled.Despite his lengthy exile, the banning of his party Thai Rak Thai and inconclusive attempts to prosecute him for corruption, Thaksin remains the central figure in the political arena.
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose party may win only 120 seats according to polls, alluded to Thaksin in his final campaign speech on Friday, saying a vote for the PPP was a vote for someone who had "cheated the nation".
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