Thais go to the polls

Protesting against the government of outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, voters in southern Thailand wore black and tore up their ballots today, in another round of parliamentary elections to avert a looming constitutional breakdown.

Voting took place in 40 constituencies, mostly in southern provinces wracked by a Muslim insurgency where tight security was evident.

Unidentified gunmen early today shot dead the driver of a district official and injured a woman in Narathiwat province, the state-run Thai News Agency said.

The election, Thailand’s third in as many weeks, is attempting to fill seats left vacant in earlier polls for the lower house of Parliament because candidates failed to meet minimum turnout rules.

But election officials said candidates in at least 10 constituencies were again unlikely to win seats, leading to uncharted constitutional territory.

The law stipulates that Parliament should convene within 30 days of an election to form a new government, but also that it cannot convene if all 500 seats of the lower house are not filled.

The country’s police chief Maj Gen Kowit Wattana warned that voters who tore up ballots would face punishment under both criminal and election law, which together impose jail terms of four years plus fines. He said 23,000 security personnel have been deployed to prevent violence.

Hundreds of black-clad protesters stormed a police station and forced the release of one activist who had been arrested for destroying his ballot.

“The voters in the south are fighting to topple the Thaksin regime. If the Thai Rak Thai party runs alone without opponents they will never ever win, even if they run 100 times in elections,” said Dr Kriangsak Liwcharoenpatana, the anti-Thaksin activist who was arrested by police after tearing up his ballot at a polling station in the southern city of Songkhla.

All three main opposition parties boycotted the April 2 elections, accusing Thaksin’s ruling Thai Rak Thai party of unfairly controlling the political process.

That resulted in 40 of 500 seats remaining vacant, since Thai law requires that unopposed candidates receive the support of at least 20% of eligible voters to win a seat.

Opponents of Thaksin and the ruling party have called on voters to chose the “no vote,” or abstention, option on their ballot or destroy their ballots.

In the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat at least nine polling stations could not open after local election officials left their posts in protest. They were replaced by volunteers and voting began several hours later.

“Reports from the region show that there are several problems in southern Thailand. After three hours the turnout is still very low. This problem makes the Election Commission admit that in at least 10 constituencies where Thai Rak Thai is running without opponents, the candidates may not make 20%,” said Ekachai Warrunprapa, an Election Commission member, in Bangkok.

There is little support in the south for Thaksin, who has been accused of corruption, abuse of power and mishandling an Islamic insurgency that has left at least 1,300 people dead in three Muslim-majority provinces in the last two years.

Following mass street protests in Bangkok and elsewhere, Thaksin announced earlier this month that he was taking “a break” from politics, but critics say he plans a comeback.

In Senate elections on Wednesday, two police officers and an election volunteer were killed and 22 others were wounded in attacks by militants in the south.

On Friday, following complaints from the opposition Democrat Party, the Supreme Court voted to nullify 42 candidates from small, obscure parties, forcing Thai Rak Thai candidates to run unopposed in 18 southern constituencies and one in central Thailand.

The Democrats claimed Thai Rak Thai had paid the candidates to run so they could skirt the law requiring them to win 20% of the eligible votes.

A Constitutional Court ruling will be needed on whether the lower house can convene if all 500 seats are not filled.

Another possibility is for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the constitutional monarch, to appoint an interim government pending fresh elections.