Thais vote for Senate amid lingering crisis

A woman casts her vote to elect a new Senate at a poll station in Bangkok yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Polls closed at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT) after seven hours of voting.

In restive southern provinces where an Islamic insurgency has raged for two years, militants staged a series of attacks around polling stations, killing two policemen and wounding nine others, police said.

In the rest of the country the election, like the campaigning for the non-partisan Senate, was far more subdued than the run-up to the April 2 elections when Thailand was rattled by street protests and an opposition boycott.

The snap polls failed to fill all 500 seats in the lower house, casting doubt on when parliament will convene and forcing by-elections in 40 constituencies on Sunday.

Even though his party won that election, Thaksin said he would not accept the post of prime minister when parliament reconvenes in the hope of heading off further protests.

Strict election rules prevent most campaigning for the Senate race, meaning Wednesday's vote has been relatively low-key.

The 1,477 candidates for 200 Senate seats are barred from holding rallies and from joining political parties.

But newspapers have been vocal in their concerns over dozens of candidates who are married to members of Thaksin's party, raising fears over a so-called "Chamber of Husbands and Wives".

Parents, siblings and in-laws of ruling party officials, including those of Thaksin, also fill the ballots for the 200 seats in a body that was designed to be politically neutral.

Exit polls, which were conducted only in Bangkok, showed that five of the 18 seats to represent the capital were won by activists who helped organise the anti-Thaksin campaign.

Other winners in Bangkok included a movie star and a former governor, the exit poll showed.

Parnthep Pourpongpan, a spokesman for the protest movement, said the election results would be closely scrutinized for any links to the outgoing premier's Thai Rak Thai party.

"We think that senators are supposed to be neutral under the law. We think that they are not supposed to be the nominee of political parties or political people," he said.