Thailand 'cleanest poll'?

There are concerted efforts to wipe out money politics

Thailand's general election in January 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.

Voters sent a clear message to old-style politicians that their time is over

Political analyst

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

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.

But 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.

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

Crooks thrown out

Many old-guard politicians with dubious reputations were thrown out by voters.

As in last year's Senate poll, several re-elections will have to be held because of graft

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," 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.

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

Election Commissioner

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.

The deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, a powerful figure in north-eastern 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.

Fraud

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 could not run stories with strong campaign messages

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

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.

The Commission unearthed much evidence of fraud, pulling up three candidates for vote-buying during campaigning.

Counting was stopped halted in at least four constituencies where corruption was evident, with re-elections due to be held later in January.

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.

Step by step

Mr Thaksin has been indicted by the anti-corruption body

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.