Exporters are watching the US presidential election closely as the outcome could have a real impact on Thai exports to the American market.

Their main concerns lie with Democratic candidate Barak Obama.

They believe that a Democratic government could pose more difficulties for Thai exports than a Republican administration.

Mr Obama has been leading his Republican rival John McCain in most opinion polls ahead of the election, although Mr McCain has vowed to fight to the end to win the White House.

Under Republican President George W Bush, the US has been pushing for a free trade agreement with Thailand and strongly criticised Thailand over intellectual property rights violations, which eventually led to Washington's decision to put Thailand on the Priority Watch List (PWL).

Deputy secretary-general of the Thai Chamber of Commerce Pornsil Patchrintanakul expected a tougher stance from Washington if Mr Obama wins the election.

Under Mr Obama, labour standards, environmental issues and the violation of intellectual property rights would be increasingly brought into focus when the US does business with other countries, Mr Pornsil said.

Thailand would remain on the PWL and would stand little chance of upgrading to a better trade status with the US, he added.

He also expected the talks on the Thai-US free trade agreement to have a very bumpy ride ahead, given that Mr Obama appears reluctant to support the free trade idea.

Mr Pornsil pointed to the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) which has been blamed for large numbers of job losses in the US.

Chairman of the Food Processing Industry Club Paiboon Ponsuwanna said that since the US economy was in bad shape, Mr Obama wanted to ensure more exports to boost revenues and, at the same time, try to curb foreign imports into the country.

The US is a major export destination for Thailand, in addition to the European Union, Japan and markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In the food sector alone, Thailand's exports to the US account for 15% of the total food export value of about 600 billion baht.

Mr Paiboon said the US might come up with aggressive measures to export more of its products to other countries.

But the key battle for the two candidates has focused on attempts to bring the US out of its present economic slump and financial crisis, according to Teerana Bhongmakapat, dean of Chulalongkorn University's economics faculty.

Mr Teerana said the policy platforms of the two candidates to restore confidence and their tax policies were the priorities for US voters in picking the next president to succeed Mr Bush.

Both candidates had similar frameworks to address the financial crisis as they believed in the need to increase taxes and domestic demand. But the difference was in their target groups, the academic said.

Mr Obama wanted to increase tax on the high-end income group while Mr McCain's tax increases focus on the middle class, he added.

Mr Teerana said Mr Obama generally had shown more readiness over economic issues than Mr McCain.

The candidate who can effectively solve the confidence problems in the US would benefit the Thai economy, he added.

"The key is who can restore confidence in the financial sector most effectively. Consumers want to see someone who can implement economic policy fast and seriously," he said.