Thailand set to elect first woman PM

THAILAND’S PARLIAMENT is expected to elect Yingluck Shinawatra as the country’s first woman prime minister tomorrow, but the sister of exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra faces major challenges to make good on populist election pledges while maintaining stability.

Arriving in the parliament this week wearing the white uniform worn by lawmakers in this southeast Asian nation, the 44-year-old faced a fraught introduction to power as she tried to appease the different factions in a bitterly divided country.

Her Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory over Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrats in July 3rd general elections, securing 265 seats and joining minor parties to hold a ruling majority of 300 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.

A major challenge will be distancing herself from her brother, who was ousted by a military coup and convicted of corruption charges and now lives in exile in Dubai.

At the same time, she will have to meet the demands of the Red Shirts who support her brother and secured her election win. Many Red Shirts were elected to parliament, and among their demands are a thorough investigation into the clampdown on protests by Thaksin supporters in Bangkok last year, which left more than 90 people dead as security forces moved to end the rallies.

Two Red Shirt leaders were freed from prison this week.

Another major electoral platform was reconciliation and a promise to bring an end to the division in Thai society. However, this is unlikely to happen as she is seen to follow policies of her brother too closely – he has referred to her as his “clone” in the past, although she insists she is independent of his influence.

However, Mr Thaksin has met various ministerial candidates at his home in exile, which has put Ms Yingluck in the embarrassing position of declaring her brother will not make her decisions for her.

The Bangkok Postnewspaper said the new government was "Yingluck in name only" and doubted that Mr Thaksin would not interfere.

Aligning new government too closely with Mr Thaksin could bring the “Yellow Shirt” middle-class monarchist group from Bangkok out on the streets again. This group occupied the capital’s airports in 2008, bringing tourism to a standstill. It could also anger the army, and raise the prospect of yet another coup.

Among her election promises were higher salaries, credit cards for farmers, computers for poor schoolchildren and a rise in the price of rice, pledges which secured the rural vote and that of the urban poor.

She has vowed to tackle rising inflation, and analysts are concerned that such populist pledges could harm economic growth.

The only unifying force in Thailand is love of the monarchy. During the ceremonial opening of the parliament on Monday, crown prince Maha Vajralongkorn, speaking on behalf of his father, the king, called on lawmakers to be “honest and sincere in their duties”.