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Thailand holds by-elections in key test for new PM
AFP - 1 hour 27 minutes ago
BANGKOK (AFP) - - Thais are voting under tight security in by-elections that will be the first test at the polls for new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose party is hoping to shore up its shaky coalition.
Voting began at 8:00 am (0100 GMT) for 29 parliamentary seats, with Abhisit's Democrat Party-led coalition hoping to grab as many as 20 places in the 480-member parliament from the opposition.
The Democrats lost elections in December 2007 to a party linked to ousted and exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra and only came to power in a parliamentary vote last month after a court dissolved the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
That decision brought an end to six months of sometimes-violent protests against the PPP and its patron Thaksin, which peaked with the crippling week-long occupation of Bangkok's two airports in late November.
The December 2 ruling by the Constitutional Court also banned scores of lawmakers from politics for five years because of vote fraud charges linked to the 2007 polls, triggering Sunday's by-elections.
"I would like to invite people in Bangkok and in provinces holding by-elections to cast their vote and elect your representative in line with democratic rule," Abhisit told reporters.
Deputy national police chief General Wichian Potphosri said that more than 34,000 police had been deployed at polling stations, with the army and navy also helping out in some provinces.
Alcohol has been banned for the day in areas where voting is being held, with authorities cautious following months of political turmoil and protests by royalist anti-Thaksin group the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
"We have not yet received any serious complaints except missing voting booths and 11 cases of illegal distribution of alcohol," Wichian told AFP.
Ten people were also arrested on Saturday evening after causing a fracas outside a Democrat Party office in northern Lamphun province, he added.
Of the 29 seats up for grabs, 13 were held by the now-defunct PPP -- which has regrouped in opposition as the Puea Thai party -- and 16 were held by its allies in the Chart Thai party, which was also disbanded.
Local media reported Democrat Party Secretary General Suthep Thaungsuban as saying that their coalition hoped to win 20 of the seats.
Abhisit came to power in a tense parliamentary vote on December 15 after fierce political horse-trading that saw a number of former PPP lawmakers and coalition partners defect, giving the Democrats a slim majority.
But supporters of the PPP and Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, feel the move robbed them of their democratic rights and have already launched protests against the new government.
Thailand remains deeply divided between those loyal to Thaksin -- who lives in exile abroad to dodge jail on corruption charges -- and elements of the old power cliques in the military, palace and bureaucracy who felt threatened by his huge popularity with the rural poor.
The urbane, Oxford-educated Abhisit has so far failed to make a dent in Thaksin's support base in the north and northeast.
Polling booths will close at 0800 GMT and unofficial results are expected early Monday.
Also Sunday, millions of Bangkok residents will vote for a new governor after the incumbent Apirak Kosayodhin -- who is a deputy leader of the Democrat Party -- quit in November over corruption allegations.
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