Thaksin rises as Thais defy law on eve of poll
The Sydney Morning Herald
THE huge silvery moon hanging over the last big political rally of the Thai election campaign was emblazoned with a familiar face inside a big heart, that of controversial exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in seeming defiance of election laws.
Mingling in the crowd of 50,000 people who came to the People Power Party rally were supporters in realistic rubber Thaksin masks with "our very dearest squarehead" slogans on their T-shirts.
Mr Thaksin is nicknamed "TV-head" for the rectangular shape of his noggin. His caretaker government was brought down by a military coup on September 19, amid allegations of corruption and disrespect for the monarchy.
He and 110 of his party faithful were banned from politics for five years. Mr Thaksin cannot campaign or be used by others campaigning in this election, yet, in five hours of fiery political rhetoric in the heart of Bangkok on Friday night, you would never have known it.
"It's time for Thaksin to return home," a People Power Party speaker told the largely working-class crowd that roared its approval.
The People Power Party is a proxy party set up by Samak Sundaravej at the direct request of Mr Thaksin and it looks set to win the largest block of seats in today's election.
Fifteen months ago, Mr Thaksin's supporters had to pay people to show up for rallies and his astrologer, Pra Kru Wichituthakarn, told him to "zip his mouth" for a while until the stars were better aligned.
Last week the monk told the Thai press things were looking up. "People Power Party will have more than half of the MP seats (250-300) and Samak will be a prime minister, one million per cent."
On the other side of town, fewer than 5000 people attended the final rally of the rival Democrat Party, whose leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, narrowly escaped serious injury in a car crash at the start of the week.
Behind today's election, Thais are anxiously watching the military, which sees Mr Thaksin as a bitter foe and does not want his proxy party to take power in its own right, or in a coalition with smaller parties.
