Thailand set for 'cleanest poll yet'

There are concerted efforts to wipe out money politics

Thailand's general election on Saturday was billed as the cleanest poll ever in the kingdom's history.

Ambitious reforms, launched under a landmark 1997 constitution, aimed to wipe out the endemic corruption and "money politics" in the country.

In place were the strongest-ever safeguards against vote-buying, which has long been a problem in Thai elections.

There were several re-votes because of graft in last year's Senate poll

In the past, parties would hand out bundles of cash to rural voters.

Under the new rules, merely handing out tokens such as T-shirts and badges could land candidates with "red cards", which bars them from public office for five years.

There were fears that the "cash democracy" and patronage politics were too firmly entrenched in the country, with voters and politicians unable to grasp the new system.

But while the reforms appear to have caused some delays with vote-counting and other problems, they seem to have had some effect.

Crooks thrown out Many old-guard politicians with dubious reputations were thrown out by voters. Unofficial results also indicate that some 40% of the 500 seats will be held by newcomers. "Voters sent a clear message to old-style politicians that their time is over," said Assadang Panikabutra, a political analyst from Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University told Associated Press news agency. "Some old-style politicians still survive in the new party, but I believe that those dinosaur politicians will adjust themselves and change their color," he said. Some of the key defeats include that of Vatana Asavahame, whose family has dominated politics in the Samut Prakan province for two decades. None of the five family members who ran in the election under their Rassadorn party won a seat. "Our era is over," Somboon Rahong, a leader of the Rassadorn party, told a news conference Monday. The deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, a powerful figure in northeastern Buri Ram province, was also among the losers. In a previous election, his canvassers practised blatant vote-buying - they stapled a total of $440,000 in currency notes to campaign cards. The Election Commission (EC), set up under the 1997 anti-corruption constitution, is empowered to throw out crooked politicians and order re-elections in fraud-tainted polls.

Under the guidelines, the media cannot run stories with strong campaign messages

New methods of vote-counting and a new ballot sheet to minimise vote tampering were also introduced.

Before, we had candidates who never did any real campaigning. They got votes simply by... giving away money

Election Commissioner

EC commissioner Gothom Arya said the rules had forced politicians to change their behaviour.

"Before, we had candidates who never did any real campaigning. They got votes simply by sending out canvassers, giving away money and so on," he told the BBC. But the rules still did not stop many candidates from going back to their old ways. In fact, it the Commission unearthed so much evidence of fraud prior to the poll that it seemed evident that re-votes would have to be held in some constituencies. Three candidates were pulled up for vote-buying during campaigning.

And the man who won the race, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been indicted for hiding his assets, although the process to bar him from politics could still take many months. A spate of protests over some vote counts was blamed for the delay in the announcement of the results. Counting was halted in at least four constituencies where corruption was uncovered, with re-elections due to be held later in January.

But despite the tide of evidence of fraud, Pollwatch Foundation said the situation had progressed.

"People now have a voice to raise complaints about corruption, so we get the wrong impression that things are worse," the monitoring group's secretary Somchai Srisuthiyakorn told the French news agency AFP.

He estimated the situation to be "probably 50% better".

"We have to go step by step," Mr Gothom told the BBC, adding that if standards were set too high, they were unlikely to be achieved.

So far, the first few steps of the fledgling Commission appear to be having some effect.