Thai election body races to endorse new lawmakers

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's election authority was racing on Wednesday to endorse dozens of winning candidates from the July 3 general election to pave the way for a new parliament to convene and select a prime minister, tentatively expected in early August.

So far, 402 of the 500 winners have been approved by the Election Commission (EC), which is struggling with a deluge of complaints that it must process in the next few days.

If all goes as expected, Yingluck Shinawatra, a sister of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will become Thailand's first female prime minister after her Puea Thai Party won the election in a landslide.

By law, the EC needs to confirm 95 percent of the winners, or 475 of the 500 house seats, to give the lower house a quorum to hold a formal opening by Monday, August 1. The EC has indicated it could complete the process by Wednesday, July 27.

A session of parliament to select a speaker will come on the same day or soon after. That will be followed shortly after by a session to select a prime minister.

Puea Thai has already agreed with five small parties to set up a coalition government that will have the backing of 300 of the 500 lawmakers, guaranteeing Yingluck's smooth passage to office in a parliamentary vote.

Last week, the EC endorsed six Puea Thai candidates who are also leaders of the "red shirt" protest movement, dismissing a raft of complaints about their role in bloody demonstrations and rioting in Bangkok last year.

However, six other members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), as the group is formally known, are still waiting, including two of its most vocal leaders, Nattawut Saikua and Jatuporn Prompan.

Nattawut allegedly slandered his opponents during fiery speeches and Jatuporn's candidacy has been challenged since he is currently in detention, charged with insulting Thailand's revered monarchy.

Yingluck's brother, Thaksin, who lives in Dubai to avoid a two-year prison sentence for graft, is the figurehead of the UDD, which shut down parts of central Bangkok for nine weeks last year in mass protests during which 91 people were killed, at least 1,800 wounded and some 30 buildings set on fire.

Puea Thai's decision to field UDD leaders in the election was controversial.

While the UDD has large support and played a pivotal role in Yingluck's victory, the red shirts are hated by many middle class Thais, who dismiss them as uneducated thugs hired by Thaksin to help him wrest back power after his overthrow by the military in 2006.

Yingluck, 44, is under pressure to grant cabinet portfolios to some red shirt leaders as a reward for their support, but that could dent the new government's image even before it starts work.

She also has to come good on a long list of populist policies that many economists say are reckless and could cause a sharp rise in inflation and government debt.

(Reporting by Martin Petty; Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Alan Raybould)