THAILAND sank deeper into political crisis yesterday after a party candidate suddenly abandoned politics to become a Buddhist monk.

The Thai election commission said that a snap election called by Thaksin Shinawatra, the embattled Prime Minister, may not take place because it was unlikely to return the required number of elected MPs.

The problem is largely due to Premsak Phiayura, a veteran politician who announced that he was taking holy orders.

Mr Premsak, formerly a member of Mr Thaksin’s ruling Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party, was all but guaranteed a seat as one of 100 MPs elected by proportional representation.

But his decision to join a monastery means that the new parliament will almost certainly be short of the full house necessary to appoint a new government. Demonstrators have picketed Mr Premsak’s monastery, accusing him of sabotaging the election in return for a bribe. But the prayers of Mr Thaksin’s enemies have been answered.

“We are thinking about [a postponement],” General Wassana Permlar, the chairman of the election commission, said in the first official acknowledgement that the controversial poll may not take place.

Opposition to Mr Thaksin has led to an election boycott and brought 100,000 Thais out in protest on to the streets of Bangkok. Yesterday the chief adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej urged the squabbling parties to act their age. “All those involved in the situation are grown-ups,” said Prem Tinsulanonda, the head of the country’s Privy Council. “I would like to appeal to all parties involved to think and act for the best for our country and our people.”

Mr Thaksin has led Thailand for five years, during which he has won the adoration of many poor, rural Thais, and the bitter enmity of its urban middle class. The former love him for his cheap loans to farmers, his provision of affordable health care and his often brutal “war” on drugs. The latter hate him for his alleged corruption, questionable business deals and cavalier attitude to human rights and freedom of the media.

When his telecommunications and media conglomerate, Shin Corporation, was sold tax-free to the Singaporean Government in January for £1.14 billion, it was the last straw for his opponents, who organised ever larger demonstrations calling for his resignation.

Mr Thaksin responded by dissolving Parliament and calling a general election to allow the people to pass their verdict on him. The main opposition parties accused him of using Thailand’s constitution as a means of whitewashing his own corruption, and boycotted the election, which is scheduled for April 2.

Mr Thaksin has vowed to campaign on anyway, but constitutional technicalities mean that even if the election does go ahead, it promises to result in a legal and political mess. To choose a new prime minister, all 500 newly elected MPs must be present, but for several reasons this is unlikely.

Mr Premsak’s resignation from the list of Thai Rak Thai’s 100 proportional representation candidates is one of them — none of the minor parties contesting the election is likely to achieve the 1.5 million votes necessary to win any of these seats, meaning that at least one will remain unoccupied.

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