Economy is key issue for Thais

The stock exchange saw a 44% drop in 2000

Economic concerns have played a key issue in the general election in Thailand, which is still recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The main political rivals all promised policies to drag the economy out of the doldrums.

[Under Thaksin,] Thailand's politics could be reduced to turmoil, bringing about a second and worse economic collapse

Business Day newspaper

The man who appears to have won a sweeping victory, telecoms tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, has pledged to give every village in Thailand 1m baht ($24,000) in development funds.

This is one of several promises that helped woo small businessmen and hard hit farmers who have been frustrated with the slow pace of growth under Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's government.

Mr Thaksin: Promising to throw money around

Many have barely begun recovering from the 1997 economic crisis and transferred their allegiance in massive numbers to Mr Thaksin's nationalist and high spending Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party.

"I cannot see any improvement at all in the last few years because the Chuan government doesn't emphasise the small business," Kriangkrai Siriamorntep told the BBC.

He once sold children's clothes to as far away as Israel and Saudi Arabia; now he is burdened with huge piles of unsold garments as China secures the competitive edge.

Cash

Mr Thaksin's message is a simple one - he is promising to end the pain administered by the current government by throwing a lot of money around.

Where does foreign investors' money go? It goes back to their countries

Small businessman

His plans include implementing a controversial three-year debt moratorium for farmers.

He has also promised to protect bankrupt Thai businesses from being taken over by foreign investors.

Some people have called it voodoo economics and accuse Mr Thaksin of putting the fragile economic recovery at risk.

Mr Chuan has been praised abroad

But such concerns have little impact on small businessmen such as Mr Kriangkrai. "At least he thinks about us... and not too much about foreign investors," he says.

"I don't mean that foreign investors are not good, but... where does [their] money go? It goes back to their countries."

His comments are in striking contrast to the praise poured on Mr Chuan's government from abroad for its efforts to reform Thailand's chronically indebted banking sector.

Small businesses have flocked to Mr Thaksin

That drive, to change the corrupt and wasteful habits which helped bring on the 1997 crisis, is now running out of steam.

The reason, says economist Korn Chatikavanij at JP Morgan securities in Bangkok, is that the government has not tried hard enough to win public sympathy for the programme.

By contrast Mr Thaksin has been selling himself very hard - and cloaking himself in the kind of nationalist, anti-foreign feelings now common among many Thais.

Investors nervous

Mr Thaksin may have pulled off a decisive win, but his political future is far from certain.

He has been indicted by Thailand's anti-corruption watchdog for false asset declarations and could be banned from politics in just a few weeks.

Many have not recovered from the 1997 crisis

Some fear his victory could mean months of political turmoil - something that will not bode well for investors and markets.

Leaders of large companies, who are able to benefit from global trade, are a lot more uneasy about Thai Rak Thai than many small entrepreneurs.

In a front-page commentary just before the elections, Thailand's Business Day newspaper warned the future remained unpredictable if Mr Thaksin was voted in.

The uncertainty could have "a disastrous impact" on Thai business and investment, it said.

Last year, Thailand's stock exchange was one of the world's worst performing bourses, suffering a 44% drop as an exodus of foreign investors continued.

"Thailand's politics could be reduced to turmoil, bringing about a second and worse economic collapse," the daily said.

But many Thais, after their bruising experience of globalisation during the 1997 crisis, are all too keen to listen to a successful businessman who preaches self-help at home before tie-ups with foreign enterprises.