Urge voters to choose balanced parliament over an autocratic, populist
government

Story by NATTAYA CHETCHOTIROS

The coming general election will pit the Thai Rak Thai party's popularity against critics who will try to derail its plan to sweep the polls and emerge with an unprecedented absolute majority.
It is four years since Thaksin Shinawatra led Thai Rak Thai to a landslide victory in the last elections. It now faces growing opposition from politicians, intellectuals, the middle class and the media, which have come to resent Mr Thaksin's style of leadership.

Criticisms include its failure to solve unrest in three southernmost provinces and the war on drugs, which saw 2,500 people dead in a wave of extra-judicial killings and brought harsh criticism from local and international human rights groups. There is also widespread
dissatisfaction over conflicts of interest within the government and corruption.

But instead of heeding comments from his critics, Mr Thaksin has bypassed their views, including those who used to be his allies and supporters such as senior citizen Prawase Wasi, social critic Thirayuth Boonmi and respected academic Ammar Siamwalla.

Mr Thaksin's position leaves him open to comparison with his predecessor Chuan Leekpai, who came under strong criticism from academics for his slowness in taking action to solve problems but never openly warred with them.

Unlike Mr Chuan, who is now senior adviser to the Democrat party, the current prime minister always hits back at those academics he dubs his ``regular critics''.

Now attempts are being made by the anti-Thai Rak Thai movement to block the party from forming the next government with an overwhelming parliamentary majority. With more than 300 votes out of 500 seats in the House after absorbing the New Aspiration, Seritham and Chart Pattana parties into its fold, Thai Rak Thai easily keeps its main rival and opposition party, the Democrats, at bay.

Kasem Sirisamphan, a veteran politician and academic, said the rapid growth of Thai Rak Thai led to a parliamentary dictatorship in which no organisation, particularly the opposition, could scrutinise the prime minister due to a lack of sufficient votes.

Mr Thaksin also used constitutional mechanisms for his own benefit so he could evade parliamentary scrutiny and interfere in independent agencies.

Mr Kasem urged voters to join forces in putting politics back on the right path in the Feb 6 polls, saying they had been given a lesson after the last general election. People did not want a prime minister who was a billionaire to further dominate the country and its politics, he said.

Democrat leader Banyat Bantadtan said the growing anti-Thaksin movement was an indication of Thai Rak Thai's declining popularity. A large segment of people, particularly those in urban areas, wanted to see major changes in politics, he said.

Mr Banyat accused the government party of abusing state mechanisms to intimidate Democrat candidates, citing the cases of Pracha Phothipinit, a former Democrat MP for Kanchanaburi, and Democrat MP for Phrae Siriwan Prassajaksatttu.

Mr Pracha, better known as Kamnan Sia, had many of his assets seized by the Anti-Money Laundering Office for his alleged role in bid-rigging.

Mrs Siriwan claimed she was being bullied because she refused to desert the Democrats in the Feb 6 general election. Houses belonging to her relatives and canvassers were recently raided by police.

The Democrats have set a target of winning 200 House seats, an increase from 130 four years ago. Democrat deputy leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the party wanted to see two blocs in politics _ a government and a strong opposition. The government had power to administer the country, but it should not be allowed to abuse its authority and do whatever it wished, he said.

Mr Abhisit said Thai Rak Thai had only one policy with many projects, not several policies as claimed. Its only policy was to hand out money to people to buy goods _ at the same time creating social, political and economic problems.

Mahachon leader Anek Laothamatas said his goal was to keep Thai Rak Thai from winning more than 250 seats. He hoped policies focusing on free education, writing off farmers' debts and giving land to the landless would win votes from Mr Thaksin in the Northeast, North and South.

He said the government's village fund scheme, in which 70,000 villages nationwide were given one million baht each, was a total flop as it failed to create jobs or boost people's incomes, and instead encouraged them to spend.

Coalition partner Chart Thai will become another rival of Thai Rak Thai after resisting the pressure to merge with the ruling party. Deputy leader Somsak Prisanananthakul said people would choose between the government's stability and a balance of power in the coming polls.

The goal of the constitution was to maintain check and balance mechanisms, he said.
Nikorn Chamnong, former Songkhla MP and director of Chart Thai, said the Thai Rak Thai considered his party its major rival in the Northeast as several Chart Thai candidates were former northeastern MPs.

The contest in the Northeast would be the toughest in years, he said, but the party expected to win more seats in the region even though several Chart Thai MPs from Buri Ram, led by Newin Chidchob, had defected to Thai Rak Thai.

But Thai Rak Thai remains confident of again being in government, arguing its populist policies have won the hearts of grass-roots people, the majority group, and that Mr Thaksin's ability to efficiently and quickly tackle chronic economic problems is a sure winner.

Suranand Vejjajiva, the party spokesman, said Thai Rak Thai was the first party which could translate its populist policies into action. Its achievements and Mr Thaksin's leadership vision gave the party a clear edge and it would win with an absolute majority.