Thais vote, but crisis likely to drag on

Thais voted on Sunday in a general election that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called three years early to counter a protracted street campaign by anti-corruption protesters to kick him out.
The early count showed Bangkok voters evenly split for and against Thaksin, and him getting solid support from the rural masses expected to hand his party a thumping majority.
But the result looked likely to be a constitutional mess after the main opposition parties boycotted the election, which Thaksin turned into an effective referendum by saying he would quit if his party got less than 50 percent of the vote.
That invited foes to tick the "abstention" option on the ballot papers.
The abstention figure may prove a key factor in an election Thaksin called to prove he had majority support against Bangkok "mobs" accusing him of corruption, cronyism and abuse of power.
The opposition boycott guarantees empty seats in the 500-member parliament, which must be filled for a new government to be formed, leaving a multitude of constitutional questions.
"The poll will produce a protracted deadlock for months. The final outcome is far from certain," political scientist Somjai Phagaphasvivat told Reuters.