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...regionwide economic crash five years later. "We restored political calm and laid the ground for economic recovery," says Korn Chatikavanij, the party's deputy secretary general. "Our record in government is solid." Democrats are also banking on Abhisit Vejjajiva, 43, their fresh-faced, Oxford-educated leader. Abhisit is clearly Prime Ministerial material, but remains untested in high public office and is said to lack the common touch. Samak dismisses Abhisit as an "unripe mango," but comparative youth could be an advantage in a Cretaceous...
...Southern Thailand is a stronghold for the Democrats, but the northeast region of Isaan is a graveyard. There, Thaksin is a tough act to follow. In None Somboon village, his face still beams from sun-bleached posters left over from a previous election. "Most Prime Ministers never leave their air-conditioned offices," says rice farmer Boon Mithaowan, 49. "Thaksin promised to do things, then he did them." Thanks to him, says Boon, the local irrigation canal was dredged and a new road built through the village...
...leads the next government, that homecoming is assured - Samak has promised to pardon Thaksin and his ex-TRT colleagues. How the military will react is unclear. General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led the 2006 coup and has since appointed himself a Deputy Prime Minister, has promised to "accept the people's judgment." After campaigning began, the military announced that it needed nearly $9 billion over 10 years to modernize and buy new weapons, which reads very much like the price of its loyalty to the next government...
...election that propels Chalerm into high office looks unlikely to create the conciliatory and competent government that this nation craves. But Thais are nothing if not pragmatic: any elected government is better than the junta, they reason. While it answers one question - Who will be Thailand's 25th Prime Minister? - the election will raise another: When will its 23rd return from self-imposed exile in England? Thaksin's high-profile ownership of Manchester City Football Club, an English Premiership team he bought for $164 million, has helped keep him in the headlines back in soccer-crazy Thailand. While...
...want to go back as Prime Minister. It's too much already," Thaksin told Reuters on Dec. 7. "My wife will divorce me if I go back to politics." So Thaksin will never be PM again? "Nothing can be ruled out," smiles PPP executive Noppadon, who doubles as Thaksin's spokesman and legal adviser. "He is still young and very energetic." Back on the campaign trail in northeast Thailand, a PPP candidate is urging his audience to send a message to Thaksin. "Please clap loudly so that England can hear you," he says. It's a safe bet that England...