Violent protests mar Thai vote count

In Thailand, violent protests at several ballot-counting centres have marred the vote count following Saturday's election.

Police said that in the worst-reported incident, riot police clashed with about one-thousand protestors in Satun province in the south, after the demonstrators tried to set fire to the house of the winning candidate who was from the Democratic party of Prime Minister Chuan Leek-pai.

Protests were reported in at least six other towns.

An election commissioner Gothom Arya told a press conference that in several areas of southern Thailand, protests had been started by people who had bet huge amounts on the elections and were set to lose.

The businessman, Thaksin Shinawatra, who won a landslide victory in the election is still in negotiations with other parties to build a coalition government.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service