POST REPORTERS

The fiercely fought battle in the North generated its share of chaos as counting continued yesterday amid strong protests and letters of complaint to the police.

The clash of the titans in Phrae constituency 2, where incumbent Democrat MP Siriwan Prassachaksattru was defeated by the son of veteran Phrae MP, Anuwat Wongwan of Thai Rak Thai party, was marred by claims that more than 10,000 votes were missing.

Meekit Seethao, the director of Mrs Siriwan's campaign, demanded an investigation by the constituency 2 election commission.

He said 93,384 people cast their votes, but there were only 82,652 ballots counted _ a shortfall of 10,732.

Mr Meekit protested for two hours and when he received no explanation from the election commission he filed the complaint at the local police station.

Nakorn Thanawuttipong, the election director for constituency 2, said the tally obtained by Mr Meekit was unofficial because vote counting had not yet finished.

He said the final unofficial result showed Mrs Siriwan received 30,397 votes, going down by nearly 25,000 votes to Mr Anuwat (55,103) and that no votes were missing.

Mr Nakorn insisted that there were no irregularities in the counting and that he had remained impartial.

He said he would report the complaint to the Election Commission.

Counting in Chiang Mai constituency 4 was also slow with constant protests from both the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai camps, particularly over invalid ballots and when some sets of ballots had more or less than the 500 ballots which were the standard for each set.

Constituency 4 was one of the fiercest contests between the two parties. The Democrats fielded Kingkarn na Chiang Mai, a former MP and wife of the chief of the provincial administration organisation, and a strong hope of stealing the seat from TRT. Counting was expected to be finished by noon today.

Late yesterday TRT sitting MP Wittaya Songkum led by 2,00-3,000 votes.

TRT swept across the northern region on polling day day, leaving casualties in the Democrat and Mahachon camps, including former Phitsanulok MP Chuti Krairiksh who lost by about 8,000 votes to the first-time runner TRT candidate Hassanai Sornsin in constituency 6.

Mr Chuti was a four-time Phitsanulok MP, first elected in 1988.

His family has dominated Phitsanulok politics. His father, Kosol Krairiksh, was a veteran Phitsanulok MP before Mr Chuti began his political career. Mr Chuti faced a tough challenge from Mr Hassanai, a former assistant district chief in Wang Tong and Nern Ma Prang districts.

The Mahachon party unexpectedly lost its stronghold in Phichit constituency 3 to a new face, Nawin Boonsert.

Siriwat Krachonprasart, the sitting MP and the son of Mahachon adviser Maj-Gen Sanan, who had dominated Phichit politics for about 20 years, lost by 3,500 votes to Mr Nawin of TRT, whose father, Adul Boonsert, also won in constituency 4 and is the main rival of Maj-Gen Sanan.