THE WOMAN who is poised to become Thailand’s first female prime minister after her landslide victory in parliamentary elections, has announced she will form a five-party coalition government.
Yingluck Shinawatra’s Puea Thai Party took a majority of 265 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament in Sunday’s elections. By announcing a broad 299- seat coalition yesterday, Ms Yingluck (44) will give her government stability and head off fears of factional violence linked to her exiled brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in the future, in terms of the well-being of the people and for the country’s unity and reconciliation,” she said. The businesswoman is very close to Mr Thaksin, who has described his sister as his “clone”, although many believe she will have her own style.
The election marks a major endorsement for Mr Thaksin, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup, accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the nation’s much-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and finally barred from politics in 2007.
He was convicted on corruption charges a year later.
The victory for his younger sister is a rebuke of the country’s ruling elite, backed by the military, which views Mr Thaksin as a threat to the monarchy.
Mr Thaksin told reporters in Dubai that he had no immediate plans to return.
The last three election results were overturned by Mr Thaksin’s opponents, but the scale of the win and the broad mandate in the coalition may mean that this election result is allowed to stand. The military has already said it will respect the decision.
Mr Thaksin’s supporters, known as Red Shirts, occupied large chunks of downtown Bangkok in the past two years to push for an election after smaller parties in 2008 switched sides in a parliamentary vote to give the premiership to the outgoing prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The protests last year killed 91 people.
Mr Abhisit, a British-born, Oxford-trained economist, stepped down as leader of the Democrat Party yesterday because of the poor electoral showing.
The financial markets like the big win – the stock market rose by 4 per cent on expectations that Thailand could be headed for a period of relative stability.
On the streets of Bangkok, the mood appeared to a combination of relief that there had been no violence and curiosity about what the Yingluck era would bring.
“She is a new generation and a young woman, that’s new. Things should get better now,” said Navin Somrak, a building site foreman working on a renovation project.
However, he said that if he had to choose between the two, he would go for the brother.
“He is a businessman and I remember when he was in power, it was good,” said Mr Navin.
Ubon Buodnok, a street food seller, believed that Ms Yingluck would be able to build on her brother’s track record on keeping the economy growing.
“Personally I think a woman can do a good job. These days a woman can do just as good a job as a man,” Ms Ubon said.
Her colleague Siriwan Naklaaw said she hoped that Ms Yingluck would do something to bring prices down as inflation was causing a lot of hardship.
“Everything is very expensive. Pork was 65 baht (€1.47) a kilo, now it’s 80 baht (€1.80) a kilo, but I can’t raise my prices because no one will eat at my stand,” she said.
“In the past, when her brother was in power, prices weren’t so high. She has already said things are going to get cheaper, I hope she delivers on that promise,” said Ms Siriwan.