BANGKOK In a tiny Thai hamlet, canvassers for a political party hand out 100 baht ($2.28) bills to voters, announcing that each note will become 1,000 baht if their candidate wins at the general election on January.

Thai party leaders condemn this form of "money politics" and have promised to stamp it out with new laws and special agencies.

But they admit all sides are guilty to varying degrees of some electoral fraud, and the nationwide polls, the first in four years, are bound to be tainted by irregularities.

Thai parties are expected to spend more than 35 billion baht ($805 million) campaigning for the election, much of which will go toward greasing local palms.

"Money politics is rampant," said Somjai Phagapasvivat, professor of political science at Bangkok's Thammasat University.

"The extent of corruption in this election will be the greatest ever in Thailand's political history. It is everywhere and it involves bigger and bigger sums."

Thailand's Election Commission, which has the unenviable task of trying to stop poll fraud, says it has collected so much evidence of vote buying, it is having difficulty storing the material. The agency's Bangkok offices now resemble a warehouse.

Rotten Eggs

Officers have been forced to throw some of the evidence away, including large quantities of food, because it is decomposing.

The overpowering stink of rotten eggs and festering fish sauce said to be gifts from party canvassers in return for votes provoked protests from staff in the Thai capital this month.

The Secretary General of the Election Commission, Vijit Yusuparp, says the flood of complaints fills him with despair.

The commission asked for support and has been deluged with accusations, complaints and evidence from the public.

The commission has been given the power to ban candidates caught breaking the rules by issuing, as is done in soccer, red or yellow cards for candidates caught fouling opponents.

A yellow card would allow them to stand again in a revote. A red card would involve an immediate dismissal. The commission is expected to force revotes in dozens of constituencies.

Some enterprising voters have accepted gifts from candidates and then sold them to other candidates who wanted the items as evidence of fraud so they can get rivals disbarred.

"I can't believe it," said Vijit. "We have more than 2,000 candidates who are well-educated and highly qualified, but most of them seem to be doing everything they can to cheat."

Political analysts say bribery is almost impossible to stamp out because Thailand is largely rural and many regions are dominated by tiny political fiefdoms where local political leaders hold the loyalty of their towns and villages.

Gulf Between Rich and Poor

An absolute monarchy until 1932, Thailand is still a hierarchical society with a long tradition of patronage.

More than half the Thai population lives on the land in communities where family ties and traditional obligations to local leaders are more influential than national issues.

Parties need only to woo local leaders and incumbent members of Parliament to sway huge numbers of votes.

Somjai says electoral fraud is so widespread in Thailand because of the huge gulf between rich and poor and relatively low levels of education, particularly in rural areas.

"Thailand is at a transitional stage between a traditional, largely agricultural society run by large bureaucracies, in which the army played a very big role, to a capitalistic society where business runs things," he said.

Despite its long history of Buddhism, the pursuit of money and wealth is also considered respectable in many communities.

"Gambling is part of Thai culture," says Somjai.

Thailand's antigraft authorities have real power.

The National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC), created with the Election Commission in 1997, has already taken action against one top politician, former Thai interior minister Sanan Kachornprasart, a close ally of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai.

Sanan, secretary general of the ruling Democrat Party for 12 years, was banned from politics for five years after being found guilty by the NCCC of filing inaccurate asset statements.

The NCCC is now investigating Thaksin Shinawatra, 51, the leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) Party and, opinion polls show, the front-runner to become premier.

The founder of a telecoms empire, Thaksin is accused of not declaring assets when he was in the cabinet in the mid-1990s.

Uphill Task

Thaksin says he is innocent and has done nothing wrong but he could suffer the same fate as Sanan if the NCCC finds him guilty.

His party, like most of his rivals, is also under investigation for vote-buying, charges it rejects.

Officers from the Election Commission are scouring the country, collecting evidence to prosecute cheats.

"We will be very busy, especially after January 6, because lots of investigations are taking place and we will be issuing yellow or red cards to many candidates," said Gothom Arya, one of Thailand's five election commissioners.

Analysts say the team has an uphill task:

"At least for the next decade, money politics will be part of the Thai political scene," said Somjai. "Probably, the best the authorities can hope for is stop the problem getting any worse."

($1 = 43.5 baht)

@CREDO = (Reuter)