Democrat party deputy leader Abhisit Vejjajiva casts his vote at a polling station at Sawasdee Withaya School in Soi Sukhumvit 31. —KOSOL NAKACHOL

The Democrat party discovered yesterday that its overwhelming victory in last year's Bangkok governor election was just a false dawn for its political resurrection in the capital. Based on exit polls, the ruling Thai Rak Thai party has swept 34 of the 37 seats available in Bangkok.

The Democrats were only able to hang on to two of the nine seats it won in the 2001 election. The other seat, in constituency 14 (Don Muang), was likely to go to Chart Thai's Janista Liewchalermwong.

Sukhum Chaloeysup, dean of Rajabhat University Suan Dusit and director of the Suan Dusit poll, said Thai Rak Thai was a clear favourite among Bangkok voters because other parties failed to provide any credible alternatives.

``The people have already tried everything, including the Democrats, and now have discovered for themselves which party can really deliver,'' Mr Sukhum said.

The Democrat's ``201'' campaign, in which it sought 201 House seats to keep alive the possibility of checks-and-balances, did not register with the electorate partly because Thai Rak Thai leader and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had managed to convince voters that a balance of power might disrupt the work of the government, he said.

The pollster, however, said results could have been different if the Election Commission had not barred poll organisations from disclosing the results of opinion polls publicly, particularly in big cities.

Another reason for the defeat, he said, was a constant Thai Rak Thai barrage in the media, which had a great influence on housewives, who were previously Democrat supporters, but who tuned into television rather than reading newspapers.

The number of ``loyal fans'' in the middle-class also shrank because the Democrats did not try hard enough to win more allies. At the same time, Thai Rak Thai were able to attract the attention of young voters through presenters like Panthongthae Shinawatra, Mr Thaksin's son, and actors Yuranan Pamornmontri and Danuporn Punnakan.

Janista Liewchalermwong, left, Chart Thai candidate, and her younger sister Chayada Masayavanich cast their votes at polling unit No 50 at Soi Ramkhamhaeng 49 in Bang Kapi. —BOONNARONG BHUDHIPANYA

Social thinker Anuj Arbhabirama said Thai Rak Thai's victory in Bangkok showed the party was now perceived as a ``friend'' of all groups of people, even the middle class, because there were no other viable alternatives and because they believed only a strong and stable government could lead Thailand through all the crises the country was facing.

The Democrat party, he said, should learn from its mistakes. ``It failed to come up with any meaningful agenda over the past four years,'' he said.

He played down worries that the media and civic groups would not have a place in politics under the ``omnipotent'' Thaksin government, saying there had never been a government anywhere that could completely control everything.

He cautioned the media and civic groups, however, against presenting the government only in a negative light since they could then suffer a setback.

Nakharin Mektrairat, dean of Thammasat University's faculty of political science, said all Thais, including the middle-class, preferred a leader who was determined and decisive and who could generate wealth for the country.

``The middle-class can accept any system in which they stand to gain. For them, ideologies can not be eaten. Bangkok people are selfish. Few sympathise with people in the deep South. These people need security in their lives more than anything else. Human rights come last,'' he said.

The academic said the absolute power won by Thai Rak Thai could be helpful to the country rather than harmful since it would guarantee the people would benefit from the multi-billion baht mass transit system, five big national parks, a knowledge park, a children's museum, and a new satellite town.