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Monday April 3, 9:10 PM Thai Leader's Party Sweeps Elections Photo: AP Click to enlarge Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's party swept national elections boycotted by the opposition, although voters in Bangkok and southern Thailand also sent a strong protest message that is likely to inflame the country's political crisis, early results indicated Monday The opposition boycott left Thaksin's ruling party uncontested in 278 of 400 constituencies for the lower house of Parliament, leaving little doubt from the start that the embattled prime minister would be returned to office despite allegations of corruption and abuse of power. But a TV station reported Thaksin's party received less than half the popular vote, with about 85 percent of the ballots counted. Final results were not expected until later Monday. The count by the iTV television station, considered more sympathetic to Thaksin than other broadcasters, said candidates for his Thai Rak Thai party had received 44.4 percent of the popular vote. Thaksin had vowed before the polls to step down if his party received less than 50 percent of the votes cast. The iTV results showed Thai Rak Thai with 12,468,904 votes, out of 28,084,686 counted so far. The source of the TV station's figures was not given, and the official Election Commission spokesman said they could not confirm the numbers. Thaksin called the election three years early to reassert his mandate after weeks of growing street protests demanding his resignation. His opponents accuse him of corruption, abuse of power and eviscerating the institutions of Thailand's fragile democracy. Thaksin appeared unlikely to clinch the decisive mandate he needs to end Thailand's worst political crisis in more than a decade, and party officials admitted they were surprised by the protest vote. Leaders from the opposition had urged supporters to tick the box on ballots signifying a "No Vote," or an abstention. Thaksin suggested he might step down for the sake of national unity. "I'm not saying that I'm going to stay or quit, but please help me find a way toward unity," he told reporters as he entered a meeting at his party headquarters on Monday. "I don't have to be prime minister, but I ask that there be unity in the country." With more than 70 percent of the vote counted in all but two Bangkok districts, abstentions outnumbered votes for Thai Rak Thai in 27 of the capital's 36 constituencies, The Nation newspaper reported on its Web site, citing the Election Commission. In elections last year, Thaksin's party swept the capital. Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, of the election watchdog People's Network for Election, estimated that up to 40 percent of votes cast Sunday were abstentions, compared with about 1 percent in last year's election. The "Vote for No Vote" campaign also appeared to have strong support in southern Thailand, which historically favors the main opposition Democrat Party. Early returns showed Thaksin was clearly popular in the north _ his home area _ and the northeast, where Thailand's rural majority has benefited from his administration's generous social welfare and economic assistance programs. Because of the boycott, Thai Rak Thai could be the only party to hold seats in the new legislature. Candidates from obscure parties with no lawmakers in Parliament ran in the remaining constituencies, and there was no indication that any had enough votes to claim a seat. However, political analysts predict that some ruling party candidates, particularly in Bangkok and the south, will not be able to take office because of minimum vote requirement laws. Election law stipulates that uncontested candidates must win the support of at least 20 percent of registered voters _ highly unlikely in some districts. Any seats left unfilled could lead to several more rounds of voting in those districts before a prime minister can be chosen. The opposition hopes the boycott will make it impossible to fill all 500 legislative seats, which many legal experts say could make it impossible to convene Parliament and form a new government under the Thai constitution. Abhisit Vejjajiva, head of the Democrat Party, said the strong abstention vote showed that Thaksin does not have a true mandate. "There are a lot of people who voted 'No Vote' this time," Abhisit said. "It shows that most people think this election is not the answer to the problem right now. And that's the reason the Democrat Party didn't join the election in the first place."