The two-month campaign by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) - a coalition of political activists, civic leaders and labour unionists - to expose Thaksin's multitude of transgressions against Thai democracy and citizens over the past five years has obviously achieved most of its intended objectives. Members of a public long manipulated by Thaksin's propaganda machine or beaten into submission by sheer intimidation were galvanised into action.

Through peaceful protest against the Thaksin administration, the PAD managed to persuade first the middle-class elite and then members of society at all levels to rise up in defence of democracy, uphold the national interests and reassert their constitutional rights. The high number of abstention votes, unprecedented in Thailand's almost 74 years of democracy, testifies to the anti-Thaksin protesters' adherence to democratic principles. Their ultimate goal is to rid Thailand of Thaksin and his sinister designs to dominate politics before his subversion of democracy - carried out with a view to maximising his selfish interests - can be achieved.

It shows that the protesters who took to the streets seeking Thaksin's ouster are not an "unruly mob" that does not know how to play by the rules, as the Thai Rak Thai leader and his propagandists are so fond of portraying them. These people know exactly what they are doing as law-abiding and responsible members of a democratic society, and they aim at nothing less than the betterment of the Kingdom.

The same cannot be said about Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai cadres, all of whom now find themselves putting up a desperate rearguard action. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party must realise that their political future now hangs in the balance, even as the final poll results are being tallied. It had been a foregone conclusion that with no participation by the main opposition parties, Thai Rak Thai would score its biggest landslide to date, take absolute control of the House of Representatives and form a new government.

But Thaksin, his party and indeed everyone else now understand that in our divided nation, under the prevailing circumstances, any chance of Thaksin staging a triumphant comeback as a third-time prime minister has become less than assured - if not downright impossible. Perhaps that's why we have begun to hear Thaksin talking about the need for national reconciliation and even the possibility of his relinquishing the premiership that was almost within his grasp.

Thaksin may be correct if he assumes that national reconciliation would be possible only by stepping aside as demanded by his growing ranks of critics. Being the high-calibre escape artist and manipulator that he is, he may believe he can ride out the current storm by devising yet another of his well-thought-out stratagems. But he would be deluding himself to think he could fool anyone by surrendering his office while continuing to pull the strings behind a puppet government led by one of his trusted Thai Rak Thai minions.

Make no mistake, any proposal for national reconciliation that involves compromising democratic principles, sound governance and public accountability would never be acceptable. Prerequisites for national reconciliation include not only Thaksin's standing down, but also his Thai Rak Thai Party stepping aside to make way for a provisional government that would implement comprehensive constitutional reforms that would safeguard against the kind of blatant power abuse and corruption so commonplace under Thaksin's watch. An independent inquiry must also be initiated to look into corruption allegations and conflicts of interest involving Thaksin, his family and their cronies.

Failing that, there can be no reconciliation.