THAILAND: Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, resigned last night, accepting that continuing in office would trigger prolonged unrest. His move followed a snap general election on Sunday which - although he won easily - resulted in a massive protest vote against him.
After an audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the beleaguered and drained-looking prime minister announced he would "not accept the premier post" for the sake of national unity but would stay as caretaker prime minister until parliament selects his successor.
"We have no time to quarrel," he said, struggling to hold back tears. "I want to see Thai people unite and forget what has happened." He said this was a reference to the king's diamond jubilee - 66 days away - and that all Thais wanted stability by then.
Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party won about 57 per cent of the vote, well down from the last election 14 months ago. His announcement was greeted with delight by more than 1,000 opposition supporters who had gathered outside his office last night.
"We don't care who's prime minister now. What's important is that Thaksin's gone," said Winyoo Keoparadai, a 25-year-old advertising executive who had protested each day for a month.
But some were distraught. "He's fought against drugs. He's fought the mafia," one taxi driver, wiping away tears, said. "I'm very sad." The millions who voted for Mr Thaksin were mostly poor rural Thais who loved him for populist policies that have raised their living standards significantly. But the urban middle class claimed Mr Thaksin abused his position repeatedly.
Tens of thousands of opponents have been protesting in Bangkok for months under the banner of the People's Alliance for Democracy. They had promised to continue until he resigned.
The three main opposition parties had boycotted the poll, claiming the vote was a Thaksin ruse to try and gain a mandate without answering the myriad corruption claims. The high-risk strategy appeared to have worked in the short term because so many voters ticked the "no vote" box to register disapproval of the prime minister. It is unclear what will happen in the medium term - the opposition has been virtually excluded from the parliament.
Their only hope of winning seats is if the election commission allows them to stand in the 39 of the 400 constituencies whose elections have to be rerun because the only candidate running, from Thai Rak Thai, did not win 20 per cent of the vote, a legal threshold. The commission indicated last night that the parties that had boycotted the polls would be allowed to run. However, analysts said that Mr Thaksin's resignation may only solve the short-term problem- (Guardian service)