Thaksin has a record of promising much, delivering little

Exactly.

Letter from today's The Nation:

PM has a record of promising much, delivering little

About 10 years ago there was an up-and-coming politician. He claimed he would get rid of Bangkok’s traffic jams within six months. He gave the “best police station” Bt50,000 each month. They must have thought he was joking. That was just a drop in their petty-cash box compared to their “unofficial” income. After those six months he hadn’t achieved even a minuscule improvement, but of course he had known that would be the result. It was important only that the people wanted to believe him. Now what can you expect from a politician who came up with this, and many other, public-relations stunts?

When he now says that 19 million Thai citizens voted for him, I translate that into him saying that he has the financial means to pay enough so that 19 million people vote, or are made to vote, for him.