AMPA SANTIMATANEDOL

Deputy Thai Rak Thai leader Sudarat Keyuraphan insists her party's aim to win at least 350 of the 500 House seats is not tantamount to a parliamentary dictatorship.

Thai Rak Thai needed sufficient votes to form a stable government and ensure the continuation of its policies, Mrs Sudarat said on the Joh Jai talk show aired on Channel 5 last night.

Thai Rak Thai was asking for an overwhelming majority to ensure the three other major parties _ the Democrats, Mahachon and Chart Thai _ did not form a coalition government with Democrat leader Banyat Bantadtan as prime minister.

''Thai Rak Thai appeals for support from voters to give the prime minister the chance to continue his work,'' Mrs Sudarat said.

She did not believe the check-and-balance system would collapse if the government gained absolute control of the lower house. There were mechanisms to scrutinise the government's use of its power, she said.

Mrs Sudarat shrugged off criticism that the government's populist schemes had created a culture of consumerism and sent people further into debt.

It was unfair to blame the government for soaring household debt.

She said 70% of loan-seekers spent the money buying agricultural tools. Household income was growing to 24,000 baht per head per year.

Meanwhile, social thinker Prawase Wasi has urged the silent majority to to exercise their right to vote.

He said people who were fed up with politics and those who had still not decided which way to vote should exercise their rights to bring about better politics.