Thaksin Vows to Return to Thailand

Thailand\'s deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, says he would like to return home, now that Thailand is back with a Democratic elected government.

Thaksin said at a press conference in Hong Kong yesterday, that he hoped to return to Thailand by February 14, Valentine\'s Day, or April at the latest after Thailand\'s new government is in place. Mr. Thaksin also indicated that he will come back to Thailand as a \'normal citizen\' and that politics was for him a thing of the past. Mr. Thaksin said \"I should not be the center of any new conflict, so I can assure you that I don\'t want to go back into politics.\'\' \"I go back to prove my innocence in a corruption trial he faces there.\"

The Election Commission of Thailand on Tuesday announced the official vote counting results of the Sunday\'s general election during a press conference at the agency\'s headquarters in Bangkok.
According to the results, the pro-Thaksin People Power Party won 233 seats out of the 480 seats of Parliament, although without reaching absolute majority in general voting, Thailand Electoral Commission confirmed Tuesday.

In that way, the supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra widely surpassed their main rival and the military-government favorite Democratic Party, which obtained 165 seats in the House of Representatives.

The president of CET Apichart Sukhakkhanont specified in a press conference in Bangkok that Chart Thai party obtained 37 seats, 24 from Puea Pandin, nine from Jai Thai Chart Pattana, seven from Matchimathipataya and five from Pracharaj Party.

Near 45 million voters, from a total of 64 million inhabitants, voted last Sunday, some 5,000 candidates from 39 political groups, most of new creation, with an index of participation of 74.45 percent.

During Thaksin\'s 5 1/2-year reign as prime minister was marked by the fastest growth in a decade. Consumer and business confidence in Thailand have languished under the military- installed government amid economic policy bungles and political squabbles. Economic growth was the slowest among six Southeast Asian nations in the third quarter.