Thaksin Shinawatra just keeps winning at the polls.[quote=“Toronto Star: Thailand elects its first-ever woman prime minister”]Thailand’s main opposition party, Pheu Thai, had a clear election victory today, which brings the country a fresh, new government led by its first-ever woman prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Supporters at Pheu Thai’s party headquarters erupted in joy shortly after polls closed at 3 p.m. local time when television stations announced an exit poll predicting Pheu Thai would win a landslide, scoring 313 of the total 500 seats.
[…]
The incumbent premier, Abhisit Vejjajiva, conceded defeat Sunday night and said he was ready to become the opposition.[/quote]
Now what? Another coup?
It means not before long we will see the yellow shirts out protesting and rioting, then there will be another election or coup, they get rid of the current person and then some other pro yellow shirt government comes to power, then the red shirts get angry and protest…
Literally just back in the door from a three day weekend in Bangkok. My wife and several friends are very keen Abhisit supporters, and were gutted. I think Abhisit is the best man for the job, still, time hasn’t been good to him.
There are loosely, three camps, reds, Shinawatra/Yingluck, blues, Abhisit and then the yellow shirts. The yellow mob have lost a lot of credibility, and rightly so because they are so damned anti-democratic. The early sense is that this was a legitimate victory for Yingluck, and that she will, or deserves to be given a go. I would doubt very much any cop or military involvement. Not completely off the books, but if that happens, there goes the last vestige of the democracy experiment in Thailand.
Royal natter has the King out of the picture with the Queen running things and the prince apparently disinterested in taking the baton when the unmentionable happens. It struck me as rather noticeable that the first royal billboard you see on the freeway out of the airport is for a health charity run by the princess.
Perhaps Thailand can just bumble its way through the hard road ahead. Assuming no shenanigans, there will be a lot of popular job and wealth creation programmes coming up. Plenty of infrastructure is needed, and it would certainly employ the red supporters closer to home.