Opposition wins Bangkok governor race again

Candidate of Bangkok's Governor Apirak Kosayodhin gestures as he arrives at the Democrat Party headquarter in Bangkok October 5, 2008.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The candidate from Thailand's main opposition party has been re-elected governor of the capital, Bangkok, leaving his rival from the main party in the national coalition government trailing far behind.

Incumbent Apirak Kosayodhin from the Democrat Party won 991,081 votes in Sunday's election, in which only 54 percent of the 4.09 million eligible voters turned out, the capital's administration said on its website, www.bangkok.go.th.

Prapat Jongsanguan, candidate of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and an ex-chief of the city subway regulatory body, won 543,488 and Chuvit Kamolvisit, a massage parlour owner running on an anti-corruption ticket, came third with 340,616.

Apirak, 47, has pledged to improve the environment and quality of life in the city of 10 million, focusing on traffic, infrastructure and education.

The 47-year-old marketing expert, who ran firms selling potato chips and mobile phones before entering politics, won nearly 80,000 votes more than four years ago and beat Prapat in all 50 constituencies, some of them once PPP strongholds.

The PPP draws much of its strength from outside Bangkok, particularly among rural voters.

The race to manage Thailand's biggest city was a gimmicky affair, with one candidate campaigning dressed as a Shanghai gangster.

Chuvit made headlines last week for beating up a television interviewer after a programme, while another candidate's campaign manager drowned while washing in a filthy canal as a publicity stunt to highlight the need for better sanitation.