Thai Rak Thai's crushing defeat in the three Muslim-dominated provinces was a consequence of the government's mismanagement of problems in the far South, several religious leaders said yesterday.

The prime minister's party failed to win a single seat in the three provinces.

``This is not surprising at all since Muslims in the area were quite confident this would be the outcome. We predicted this. The prime minister totally misjudged the situation down here,'' said Nideh Waba, president of the Private Islamic Schools Association.

Abdullahman Abdulsamak, chairman of the Narathiwat Provincial Islamic Committee, shared Nideh Waba's view. He said the resounding defeat of Thai Rak Thai (TRT) clearly showed local people's frustration and disappointment over Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's handling of the situation in the southernmost provinces. The bloody incidents at Krue Se mosque and later at Tak Bai police station had a bad effect on Thai Rak Thai's image.

``We are hopeful this will make the government pay more attention to local people's feelings,'' he said.

Mr Thaksin yesterday admitted his party failed in the South, saying it was a warning sign for his government.

``The government has to listen more and make further adjustments,'' Mr Thaksin said.

The violence in the three provinces has obviously had a major of bearing on the poll since none of the party's former MPs were re-elected to the House.

Early indications were that TRT had won eight of the 11 seats in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani and the Democrats only three.

However, as counting continued yesterday, unofficial results showed the Democrat took nearly all the 54 seats in the greater southern region.

The Democrats won 52 seats from 14 southern provinces, including 10 seats in the three southernmost provinces. The 11th seat went to Chart Thai candidate Kuheng Yawhason in Narathiwat's constituency 3 which covers Rangae, Cho Airong and Sukhirin districts.

In the 2001 elections, the Democrats won five of the 11 seats, New Aspiration party five and TRT one.

Five NAP MPs, under the leadership of deputy prime minister Wan Muhammad Nor Matha, later joined TRT. Four Democrat MPs also switched to TRT which then became the pundits' favourite to sweep all 11 seats in the restive region.

But the Democrats were not surprised by the outcome. ``We were quite confident from the beginning since we were well aware of local people's displeasure with Mr Thaksin, who has made a mess on situation down here,'' said Democrat deputy secretary-general Niphon Boonyamani, in charge of the party's southern campaign. ``The problem down there was not the economic pledges made by the prime minister to draw votes from local people. It had more to do with the people's feelings of insecurity, of being mishandled by the government.''

Former Demcorat MP Wairoj Pipitpak-dee, a veteran politician in Pattani who jumped ship to TRT, admitted local Muslims were very unhappy with Mr Thaksin's handling of the situation. Mr Wairoj was trounced by unknown Democrat candidate Anwar Saleh.

Paisal Yingsaman, Thai Rak Thai's candidate in Yala's constituency 2 admitted the defeat was totally unexpected. The government's harsh action at Tak Bai had caused wide displeasure and the Democrats benefited from this.

``They said during the campaign that there would be more bloodshed and more killing if Thaksin led another new government,'' Mr Paisal said.