Ruling Party Concedes Poll Defeat in Thailand's General Election by Phairath Khampha 24 January 2001 On Saturday, January 6, 2000, Thailand held its first general election since a new constitution was adopted in 1997 to promote democracy and transparency in government. The Democrat Party of Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai two days afterwards conceded defeat at the polls, two days after a landslide general election win by telecoms tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra. Democrat Party Deputy Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the party would sit in opposition after the election, which was won ovewhelmingly by Mr Thaksin's populist Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party. At least 10 percent of the votes cast in constituency ballots were deemed invalid, fuelling suspicion that the election was marred by widespread rigging scams. Thaksin Sinawatra basks in the moments after the election results were announced Together with the new constitution, the country's election law was also changed in an effort to curb endemic vote-buying. As always in Thailand, personalities and image played a major part in voter preferences, but the Chuan government's handling of the economy was a touchstone issue. Critics said his government failed to move decisively to rekindle growth after the 1997 economic collapse and allowed foreign investors to take advantage of the situation at the expense of Thai companies. Chuan was also accused of ignoring the plight of the poor in his efforts to restore financial stability. Widespread vote-buying nevertheless occurred, especially in rural areas. Disqualifications raised the prospect of repeated new voting, which would delay the convening of parliament. Also, if Thaksin were to take over the premiership, he could be forced to step down soon after: A preliminary ruling found that he concealed assets while serving in a previous government and that he was corrupt and had not paid taxes. Figures from the January 6 election published by the Ministry of the Interior gave Thai Rak Thai an unprecedented 255 of the 500 seats in the lower house of parliament and showed it swept almost all areas of the country. The Democrats won just 128 seats, mainly in their heartland in southern Thailand. Local television stations said Thai Rak Thai had won around 51 percent of the popular vote, making Mr Thaksin's victory the biggest win since the abolition of Thailand's absolute monarchy in 1932. Earlier, Mr Thaksin, who had a graft indictment hanging over him, said he hoped to form a three-party coalition government by January 11. But a poll watchdog said on the day after the vote that the elections were so corrupt it could be days before the winner could give his victory speech. The Election Commission said there were such alarming voting irregularities in six constituencies that counting had been stopped and fresh polls ordered. Many other separate investigations were being made, said Commissioner Yuwarut Gamolvej. Despite a drive to eradicate graft in recent years, the January 6 election showed Thais preferred the scandal-tainted and corrupt Mr Thaksin to Chuan Leekpai, the scrupulously honest Prime Minister who has had limited success in improving the economy. Thailand's premier-in-waiting was reticent two days after the election about both his victory and the makeup of his future cabinet. The scale of the victory increased pressure on the Constitutional Court that was poised to begin hearings into a National Counter Corruption Commission finding that Mr Thaksin tried to hide part of his wealth during a previous spell in cabinet. The court could take the soft option of deciding that if he had merely been trying to hide equity to evade tax or stock exchange scrutiny this was not the business of an agency charged with stopping the theft of state assets. The hard option would be to say an assets declaration is an inviolable requirement and ban Mr Thaksin from politics for five years. But either way, Thaksin committed grossly dishonest acts. Hence, it was a clear but sad indication of what kind of society Thailand had, when its people were willing to accept a corrupt and dishonest person as their prime minister. Thai PM-elect faces trial However, Thailand's constitutional court has unanimously agreed to try Prime Minister-elect, Thaksin Shinawatra, on corruption charges. the constitutional court's president, Prasert Nasakul, said the case should be decided in less than a year. The court gave Mr Thaksin 15 days to send written testimony and evidence to counter the commission's indictment. Mr Prasert said he had also instructed all 15 court judges not to give interviews to the media. Preliminary official election results Thailand's Election Commission on January 19 issued the official preliminary results of parliamentary seats won by political parties after initial counting of votes in the January 6 election. The commission said it had disqualified four election candidates, and another 14 were under investigation for possible campaign violations that might lead to their disqualification. It said fresh elections might be held in up to 43 constituencies throughout the country where election law violations had taken place. Re-votes would be held on January 29. Members of parliament are elected in two ways - 400 are directly elected in constituencies while 100 are chosen from a so-called party list on the basis of the overall share of votes each party received. Election was corrupted despite safeguards Thailand went into the general election with probably its strongest-ever safeguards against vote-buying, "ghost voters" and other ruses that have soiled its fragile democracy. But past masters of dirty tricks were also out in force -- four candidates were disqualified nationwide before the end of 2000 for buying votes -- and they do not come much trickier than in the Samut Prakarn province industrial area just south of the capital, Bangkok. Charan Bangpo hoped he would not see his brother's name again on election day. He has been dead 25 years, but his name kept popping up on voter rolls in this graft-ridden province of Thailand. "When I complained, his name vanished but reappeared again on election days," said the 56-year-old laborer, recounting the ingenious cheating he has witnessed over the years. Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, a member of a local election watchdog group, said several hundred outsiders moved into Samut Prakan in the few days before the election, apparently intent on manipulating the voting. He feared widespread graft. Opposing them were police, a tough Election Commission spawned by the country's reformist 1997 Constitution and non-governmental organizations such as People's Network for Elections, the group Somchai works for. Nationwide, January 6 contest pitted Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a low-key lawyer, against flamboyant but extremely corrupt tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who promised to heal Thailand's sick economy. Thaksin was convicted of graft and illegal financial disclosures and tax evasion in December and red-carded by the National Counter-Corruption Commision. If the ruling his upheld by the courts then he cannot be involved in politics for five years meaning he could not be prime minister of Thailand. But in Samut Prakan province, the battle royal set Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party against the small but locally dominant Rassadorn, or Party of the People. Rassadorn is controlled by Watana Asavahame, a deputy interior minister widely regarded as the all-powerful godfather of Samut Prakan. He is a godfather in the sense of Mafia. This province is notorious for spawning all sorts of illegal activities. He had insured victory after victory for his followers. Such influential figures are still common throughout Thailand, despite significant victories by pro-democracy advocates over the past decades against military rule and old-style money politics. Watana denied a number of allegations against him, including involvement in narcotics. In 1999, his son, Chonsawasdi, beat rivals in a landslide municipal election. But a national scandal erupted when it was discovered that there were far more ballots cast than registered voters. Chonsawasdi resigned as mayor but got his job back after a by-election. Now, his pop star singer wife, Nanthida, ran in Samut Prakan's first constituency, the family's stronghold. She opposed Thai Rak Thai candidate Wallop Youngtrong, who lost in 1996 in a questionable election there. "I want to show voters here that if they have clean representatives, they will get better things," Wallop said. Following the 1996 general election, Wallop requested a recount from 73 polling booths. It found 28,000 fake ballots. But a corrupted court said it had no power to order a re-election and Wallop had to concede defeat, losing to his Rassadorn party rival by 20,000 votes. The provincial election commissioner, Pisit Sukarat, predicted a cleaner election this time around because of the crackdown on campaign misdeeds. He dismissed the watchdog report on intended mass vote manipulation. But some among the 700,000 eligible voters said they had already seen plenty of cheating. Chalisa Siriban, 22, said candidates were buying votes briskly, with her friends getting 200 baht -- $4.65 -- from one party to cast ballots for its candidate. "Candidates are more careful," she said. "But they still use dirty tricks." Totting up the electoral scams Thailand's Election Commission said it had received 1,550 allegations of campaign misconduct. The commission's complaint centre said 221 cases had been reported in Bangkok. It said Phuket province had the fewest at two. Meanwhile the People's Network for the Election (PNET) said it had received 716 reports of alleged wrongdoing with 499 filed in Bangkok and 217 in the provinces. The Law Society of Thailand said it had received 258 reports of illegal campaign tactics. Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, secretary-general of the PollWatch Foundation, said PNET had blacklisted 70 government officials nationwide on suspicion that they had abused their authority to help certain candidates. Election sees demise of political dinosaurs Old-style politicians with dubious reputations lost en masse in Thailand's general elections, a sign that political reforms were beginning to bite. The January 6 poll was the first under an anti-corruption constitution adopted in 1997, challenging traditional patronage networks and money politics in the country's flawed but rapidly changing democracy. ''Voters sent a clear message to old-style politicians that their time is over,'' said Assadang Panikabutra, a political analyst from Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University. Tough new electoral rules to prevent vote-buying were largely responsible for partially clipping the wings of politicians who have blatantly bought their way into office in the past. Unofficial results showed that some 40 per cent of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives would be filled with new faces, although it remained to be seen how many would make it to the Cabinet of prime minister apparent Thaksin Shinawatra, whose own future remains clouded by the corruption indictment. If the indictment were to be upheld by the Constitutional Court, Mr Thaksin would be barred from office for five years. A ruling was expected within months, but not before Thaksin takes office. If the ruling were to go against him, Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) party, which won an unprecedented outright majority in Parliament, would have to elect a new leader. Among the biggest scalps in the election was Watana Asavahame, a deputy interior minister widely regarded as a criminal godfather figure in Samut Prakan on the outskirts of Bangkok. His family dominated politics in the province for two decades. Mr Watana was once denied a visa by the United States because of a connection with drugs, which he understandably denied. Five more of his family members contested but none won a seat. ''I will wash my hands of politics. Our era is over,'' Somboon Rahong, the proxy leader of Mr Watana's Rassadorn party told a news conference on January 8. The Watana clan's fall was replicated across the country, with political heavyweights crashing to defeat, both from parties likely to participate in the next government coalition and the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. Among them was current deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, who had long been a dominant force in northeastern Buri Ram province but failed to win a seat. In a previous election, canvassers for Mr Newin were caught with currency notes totalling 11 million baht (US$1=43 Baht) stapled to his campaign cards. In Bangkok, two sons of outspoken former deputy Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung lost the election, suffering for their reputation for getting into barroom brawls. The Thai Citizen party of current Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej also bombed. Mr Samak, 10 times a lawmaker, was a household name in Thailand, but a bete noire of liberals who claimed he supported a military massacre of protesting students in 1976. His party was once a leading force in the capital but it did not win a single seat this time. Still, a few political heavyweights would remain a force in the new government such as former Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong who deserted another party to join Thai Rak Thai just before the election. Mr Sanoh wields great influence along the Thai-Cambodian border through various rackets and was involved in trucking, construction and real estate businesses. He commands the support of dozens of politicians. ''Some old-style politicians still survive in the new party but I believe that those dinosaur politicians will adjust themselves and change their colour,'' Mr Assadang said. Time for 'enigma' to show colours The new prime minister immediately came under pressure to deliver on the feel-good policies that swept him to power Thailand on January 7 awoke blinking from the previous day's election to wonder what kind of a leader it had voted for in runaway poll winner Thaksin Shinawatra. Although he had dabbled in politics since the mid-1990s and was referred to in the press as the nation's richest man, he remains an enigma. But 60 million people were about to unwrap that enigma. By creating a formidable vote-gathering machine from scratch and selling feel-good policies he engineered a remarkable victory. "I can only thank the people. I am humbled by the result and will work with all my heart for the nation," Mr Thaksin said. The swing towards the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party appeared so overwhelming that even the reluctance of the Election Commission to officially release the final tally did not dilute what appeared to be his strong lock on Parliament's powerful Lower House. Yet he immediately came under under tremendous pressure not to disappoint a nation that he has promised so much to during the campaign. In what was nothingmore than an elaborate scheme to buy votes, Mr Thaksin promised to push money towards villagers. He also vowed to take bolder steps to reform the economy, blaming the "banker mentality" of Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda for failing to lift the burden of bad private debt, which acted as a drag on economic recovery, by transferring it to the state. So what exactly was Mr Thaksin promising - since he did not explain in any credible way how he planned to pay for these and other populist projects? "My greatest fear is that he will actually do what he has promised to do," said one of the country's most respected economists who has been an adviser to several governments. "Old-style politicians just ripped-off the country so that they could lavish goodies on their home provinces. Thaksin is effectively threatening to lavish goodies on the whole nation by stealing from future generations." Stealing by any other name is still that--stealing. Mr Thaksin repeatedly claimed that he would modernise the country, sprinkling his talk with buzz words and phrases like "Internet" and "ceo government". He blamed "greedy and incompetent" politicians for seeking power at any cost with their only thought being to enrich themselves. Yet he now is tainted with the same kind of dung. On January 7 the Thai Rak Thai deputy Sudarat Keyuraphan said it would only accept into its government ministers with clean reputations. Yet, to obtain his avalanche of votes, Mr Thaksin has co-opted many politicians with dubious reputations. The veteran "floating faction" leader Sanoh Thienthong once joked that he was not a bad man at all, merely a "good Godfather". The new prime minister was also seen in earnest negotiations on January 7 with members of the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) and New Aspiration parties - led by two former premiers from the 1990s who ran administrations known for their corruption and inefficiency. "He championed old political tricks to play new politics," argued the Nation newspaper. The fresh and often young newcomers who were attracted to Mr Thaksin's party were expected to be discarded in favour of veteran politicians when the cabinet lineup was announced. "When the chips are down you need strong, corrupt people with strong, dishonest people behind them," said an adviser to the New Aspiration Party. Also, for the first time, a representative of the business elite would directly have his hands of the levers of political power. No wonder the chiefs of the country's most powerful business conglomerate and biggest bank were quick to endorse his premiership. Analysis: Power of patronage New and strict rules were supposed to have established truly democratic conditions for Thailand's parliamentary election. But in places like Samut Prakan, a coastal province south of Bangkok, its old-fashioned forces of patronage, feudalism and cold intimidation seemed certain to influence the outcome once again. The fishermen of Klong Dam, a small village near the mouth of the Chao Phraya river, can testify to that. There was much at stake for them in the election because it would be their last chance to halt a huge and highly controversial waste water project which would destroy their livelihoods. But the Asian Development Bank, which was financingthe project, still wanted it to go ahead, as the corrupt activities surrounding the construction of the facility would the "payment" to Thailand's corrupt power-brokers to allow the ADB to carry out its agenda in Thailand on behalf of the western and Japaense multinational corporations. Fish stocks Hunched over crumpled navigation charts, local activists Dawan Jantarahasdi and Sang Bantap explained how effluent from the waste water plant - which was already close to completion - would kill off the plankton and shrimp on which fish stocks in this northern part of the Gulf of Thailand depended. "It's the local politicians who want this scheme, not the people," said Sang Bantap. The politicians in question belonged to the powerful Asavahane family which for two decades had dictated political and economic life in Samut Prakan. The family also owns the land on which the waste water plant was being built and stood to make huge profits provided the project went ahead. The Asavahane operate what was in effect the family's own political party: Rassadorn, or The People Party. It held five of the province's six seats in the old parliament. Stopping the waste water project depended on voting these people out of office. The chances of that appeared to be slender prior to the poll - the blue Rasadorn election posters were all over Samut Prakan while trucks mounted with loudspeakers plied the roads, blaring out the Rasadorn party jingle. But in the election, all five Asavahane family members who ran in the election were defeated. Carrying weapons This was no easy defeat. Voter registration lists were tampered with in the run-up to election day, with names of people from outside the province being added in order to help Rasadorn candidates win constituencies where the party felt its control was threatened. There was intimidation too. Election observers found it almost impossible to work in the province. Some resorted to carrying weapons to defend themselves. On the main road to Klong Dan, several posters belonging to Rasadorn's main rival, the Thai Rak Thai party, were defaced, a visible sign perhaps of the political intimidation - and violence - that lurks beneath the surface here. At the headquarters of the local Election Commission, the official in charge, Pisit Sukarat, admitted that there were serious problems in Samut Prakan during the campaign. In one case, a candidate from the Chat Patana party was disqualified from the contest. "We've taken every precaution to ensure that there's no repeat of the trouble last year," Mr Pisit said before the election. That was the occasion when, during municipal elections, a gang of men burst into a polling station and began stuffing voting slips into election boxes. Policemen on duty had been paid off to not intervene. Efforts to question Rassadorn party officials about the complaints were unsuccessful. At the party's headquarters, a receptionist said there was no-one to answer questions, even though the reception area was crowded with party canvassers. Split According to Sunai Phasuk of Pollwatch Network, such a situation was far from unusual. "There are many Thai provinces where political life - from local to national level - is controlled by a single corrupt and violent family." But he said things do not always work out as these families intended. "Sometimes more distant relatives split off from their party and join that of a rival. Then it becomes a war within the family, and it makes it more exciting to observe," he added, "Particularly when they start to kill each other off. It is still feudal and like it used to be in Europe in the middle ages instead now they use M-16s and bombs sintead of spears and swords and daggers." But that war to wrest control of the province came abruptly to an end in the January 6 poll. Back on the Klong Dan waterfront, Sang Bantap explained it this way - the fishermen's only hope was a Thai Rak Thai victory. "If the waste water plant [was] completed, I don't see that there would be anything left for the fishermen here," he said. Thai constitutional court to try Thaksin Despite the apparent electoral victory for Thaksin, the constitutional court in Thailand nevertheless unanimously agreed to go ahead with the trial of the prime minister-elect on corruption charges. Mr Thaksin had been indicted by the country's national counter corruption commission, who found him guilty of intentionally concealing some of his assets. If this finding were the be upheld by the court, Mr Thaksin could face a five-year ban from politics. The court president, Prasert Nasakul, said he had instructed all fifteen court judges not to give interviews to the media in order to avoid damaging the public's respect for Mr Thaksin, whose Thai Rak Thai party won a landslide election victory. Mr Prasert dismissed speculation that the case could take as long as two years to settle. Both sides now had fifteen days to submit documents to support their cases. By most people in the streets of Bangkok just saw it as a usual bargaining exercise in which the judiciary would try to up the consideration demanded of Thaksin in order to aquit him on the charges.