THAILAND:Thailand's voters yesterday approved a new army-drafted constitution, paving the way to elections in December, but a large number of "No" votes suggested ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra remains a political force.
A tally, with 95 per cent of the votes counted in Thailand's first referendum, showed 58.24 per cent accepting the charter, designed to prevent a repeat of Mr Thaksin's powerful single-party style of government.
However, 41.76 per cent rejected it, sending a signal to the generals who removed the telecoms billionaire in a coup last September that they will struggle to control the make-up of the next administration.
The election commission website, www.ect.go.th/index.html, said turnout was 56.63 per cent of a 45 million electorate.
Having pushed for a "Yes" vote, the army-appointed post-coup government had been hoping for at least a 60 per cent turnout for what will be Thailand's 18th constitution in 75 years of on/off democracy. After early exit polls indicated overall approval of the charter, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said elections would "definitely be held at the end of the year". December 16th or December 23rd are the most likely election dates.
Mr Thaksin (58) has been in exile in Britain since the coup and spent the afternoon watching his newly acquired soccer club, Manchester City, beat Manchester United in a match that will have generated as much interest in Thailand as the referendum.