Thai Election Winner Promises Coalition

Telecommunications billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra pledged Monday to build a coalition with the clout to dominate Thai politics following his landslide general election victory.

Thaksin, whose Thais Love Thais Party unofficially won more than 250 seats for an outright majority, said he aims to build a coalition by Thursday to command about 320 seats in the 500-seat parliament.

He said he is prepared to talk to any party about a coalition.

“There is no haste,” he said. “It will be another month before the full lower house can convene and a speaker is selected. Only then a prime minister will be picked.”

Thaksin won his resounding victory through promises of lavish spending to boost the economy.

Outgoing Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai’s Democrat Party won just 128 seats. Voters punished him for a perceived failure to lift the economy out of the doldrums.

Thailand’s Election Commission said Monday that a spate of protests was causing delays in announcing results. The commission has said evidence of fraud might prompt new votes in one-quarter of the constituencies or more.

The election was Thailand’s first under an anti-corruption constitution adopted in 1997. Voters threw out several old-guard politicians who made their way to the top under a system of patronage and vote-buying so blatant that in one previous race, a candidate’s workers stapled cash to campaign fliers.