January 11, 2005

Fear mars campaigns in South

 Safety concerns have forced the Democrat party to concentrate on

door-to-door political campaigning in the violence-stricken deep South.

 Nipon Boonyamanee, the Democrat party's southern campaign director, said

campaigners would focus on going door-to-door rather than on public speeches

because people were reluctant to leave their homes.

 Applications to become constituency candidates began yesterday, and the

Thai Rak Thai, Democrat and Chart Thai parties fielded their candidates for

the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

 In Pattani, with four constituencies, Thai Rak Thai has three candidates,

Chart Thai one and the Democrats four. Former Democrat MPs in the province

have defected to Thai Rak Thai.

 In Yala, two candidates from Thai Rak Thai and one each from the Democrat

and Chart Thai parties were registered amid a report that campaign posters

of Thai Rak Thai candidate Pairoj Chaliewsak had been destroyed in Muang

district.

 In Narathiwat, the most active party is Thai Rak Thai as it has fielded

candidates for all four constituencies.