Thaksin's administration has been thrown into uncertainty since his family 's controversial sale of its controlling stake in telecom giant Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned investment company in January.

    His detractors and critics accuse him of corruption, abuse of power and manipulation of laws.

    A recent nationwide poll by Bangkok's Assumption University showed that Thaksin's popularity has slumped to 34.5 percent this month compared with 77.5 percent right after he won the second term in a landslide election victory in February 2005.

    Despite the opposition and challenges posed openly against the government's decision, business leaders have welcomed the snap election as a means to ease political uncertainties that have dealt a heavy blow to the investment climate over past weeks.

    Kittiratt na Ranong, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said the move would help restore investors' confidence and give a short-term boost to the market.

    After the announcement of the snap poll decision, Thai shares gained 1.2 percent on Friday.

    Analysts forecast that with strong backing of mass rural voters, Thaksin-led Thai Rak Thai party is likely to win the April 2 election, although with a reduced majority, while the opposition Democrat party is expected to garner seats in Bangkok and among the urban middle class.

    In February last year, Thai Rak Thai Party took an overwhelming 377 of the 500 seats in the lower House, securing Thaksin a second term in office.

    Backed by rural-based electorate, Thaksin first took office in 2001 when Thailand was struggling to overcome the Asian financial crisis. With cheap loans and government handout succeeding in boosting domestic demand, Thailand was leading the pack of Southeast Asian tigers by 2003.

    The government launched numerous projects aimed at improving living conditions of grass-root civilians. The measures included promoting rural products in a national scale, selling low-price houses to low-income people and mass poverty-lifting plans.

    Although Thaksin's reputation was tarnished by the administration's ineffective handling of the southern violence, especially the deaths of 78 protesters in police custody in October 2004, he still won high marks for the adept handling of aftermath of Dec. 26 tsunami and the efforts to contain bird flu in his second term.

    Korakot Padungjit, secretary-general of the FTI steel club, said Thaksin and Thai Rak Thai would almost certainly return to form the new government since populist policies such as the 30-baht universal health care program remain popular among voters.

    "I am ready to accept the decisions of the people. But I will never accept those outside the system who claimed to be deciding for the people," claimed Thaksin on Friday. Enditem