Thai by-election a win for fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra

Bangkok - An opposition party candidate won a by-election in Sakorn Nakorn province by a landslide, providing a small political triumph for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, election officials said Monday. Anurak Boonson of the Puea Thai Party which is loyal to Thaksin, won 83,348 votes in the Sakorn Nakorn by-election compared with Bhumjaithai Party candidate Pitak Chansri's 47,235 votes, according to an unofficial poll count Monday morning. Sundau's by-election was called in the north-eastern province, deemed a stronghold for Thaksin, after the province's Puea Thai member of parliament Pongsak Boonson was disqualified by a Supreme Court ruling. Anurak is Pongsak's wife. Political observers painted the by-election as a popularity contest between Thaksin, who has been living in self-exile since August and his former close ally Newin Chidchop, who switched camps in December to help form a new coalition government led by Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. Newin, although barred from politics, is known as the chief political organizer behind the Bhumjaithai Party, a coalition partner in the current government. Thaksin, a billionaire former telecommunications tycoon who was prime minister from 2001 until September 2006, when he was toppled by a coup, made personal telephone calls to district chiefs and canvassers in Sakorn Nakorn to encourage them to rally support for Anurak, news reports said. Thaksin, who used his premiership to push through populist policies that gave direct benefits to the poor, remains popular in the north-east, Thailand's poorest region. That popularity apparently has not worn off in Sakorn Nakorn. 'Thaksin fever is what we can't do anything about,' Bhumjaithai party spokesman Supachai Jaisamut acknowledged in an interview with the Bangkok Post. Support for Thaksin reached a boiling point in April when the ex-premier urged his followers to stage a 'people's revolution' against Abhisit's government, prompting in a raid by his supporters on a regional summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Pattaya. The summit had to be cancelled. The ex-premier, who is preparing to fight a legal battle in Thai courts to have 2 billion dollars of his family wealth unfrozen in Thai banks, is widely faulted for dividing Thailand, and encouraging a class war between the have-nots and the Thai establishment. Thaksin himself, however, still ranks among the 'haves.' Despite the frozen funds, he continues to play a pivotal role in Thai elections. Thaksin is the key financier behind the Puea Thai opposition party, insiders acknowledge.