An odd flavored democracy

The weekend’s election in Thailand has been a fascinating study in political dynamics. Former telco billionaire and current Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is fighting desperately to hold onto the reigns of power.

His first term government was dogged by scandal which drove the chaos in urban Thailand throughout the campaign period. Middle class urban voters are determined to dump the sticky PM who holds on through a strong rural voter base.

Voting is compulsory in Thailand, but has a curious option on the ballot for a simple "NO, I don’t want to cast a vote". This came into play in a big way at the weekend as most opposition parties took the high ground and refused to participate in the election. A vote against Thaksin essentially became the ‘no vote’.

The Election Commission said 50.1 per cent of voters in the capital had marked their ballot papers "no vote", versus 45.9 per cent who supported candidates of Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party.

Countrywide Thaksin claims 60 percent of the vote. His party got 16 million votes, compared to about 10 million `no votes' and other parties, according to Thaksin. A tally by Thai television station iTV indicated his party had received 44.4 percent of the popular vote nationwide, with 85 percent, or 28,084,686 votes counted. The Election Commission has not yet released comprehensive official vote totals.

As a further complication the opposition boycott of the poll left Thaksin's ruling party uncontested in 278 of 400 constituencies for the lower house of Parliament, leaving little doubt from the start about the outcome.
Minimum turnout requirements mean some parliamentary seats will remain vacant. This will force a series of by-elections that delay the convening of a new Parliament and raise constitutional questions about whether Thaksin can form a government without another national election.

It is early days yet, as the official figures are not yet released, but we can expect the demonstrations against the Thai government to continue, at least in Bangkok. Thai flavoured democracy sure has a spicy tang to it.