BANGKOK, Thailand - Voters in Thailand's first-ever national referendum approved a new constitution Sunday, clearing the way for an election by December that would restore civilian rule after last year's military-led coup, unofficial results showed.
But the vote shows the country remains largely divided between Bangkok residents, who staged months of protests calling for deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to step down, and those in the poor, rural northeastern provinces where support for Thaksin runs high.
Thaksin was overthrown by the military in a bloodless coup last September. His opponents had accused the billionaire businessman of corruption and abuse of power, while his supporters said the coup was a move by the urban elite to restore influence lost to the rural majority under Thaksin.
Nationwide, nearly 57 percent of voters approved the draft constitution, compared to about 41 percent against it, according to the state election commission's count.
In Thaksin's stronghold in the northeast, only 37 percent of voters approved the draft, with almost 63 percent opposed. In the capital, a strong majority voted in favor of the text.
"The referendum's result shows that the country is still as divided as before," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The divisiveness is deep-seated and the referendum has done nothing to change it."
The 186-page constitution, which will be the country's 18th since 1932, curbs the role of politicians, gives more power to unelected bodies such as the courts and could perpetuate the behind-the-scenes power the military has wielded in Thailand for decades.
Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said the referendum was "the first step in moving forward to full democracy" after last year's coup. He said the charter is expected to be enacted by the end of August after it is endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and that he hoped an election could be held soon after the monarch's Dec. 5 birthday.
Thailand has been administered since the coup under an interim constitution that keeps the military in control behind the veneer of temporary civilian rule. Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, widely touted as a likely next prime minister, called on Surayud's government to set a "definite time line for elections."
Chaturon Chaisaeng, a top member of Thaksin's now defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, said the former prime minister's loyalists accepted the referendum results even though they considered the process unfair. Thaksin's party was ordered dissolved by the courts in May for electoral fraud.
The new charter will serve as a replacement for a 1997 one popularly dubbed "the people's constitution" for the extensive public consultation and debate leading to its adoption.
That version attempted to bring democratic reforms to a system that left political parties beholden to local power brokers with little or no ideological allegiances, a system that led to unstable, short-lived coalition governments.
The new constitution would turn the Senate back into a partly appointed body, change electoral procedures in a manner that weakens political parties and shift several responsibilities from the executive branch to the judiciary.
The impetus to curb the power of elected representatives was a reaction to the heavy-handed rule of Thaksin, who was accused of using his vast personal wealth from the telecommunications sector to secure what some saw as a parliamentary dictatorship.
