Thailand’s powerful military accepted on Monday a stunning election victory by the party of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, adding to a new sense of stability in a country plagued by unrest since his ouster in a coup five years ago. A day after the victory by the Puea Thai Party headed by Thaksin’s youngest sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, the military agreed not to intervene or stop her from forming a government, according to the outgoing defence minister.
“I can assure that the military has no desire to stray out of its assigned roles,” said General Prawit Wongsuwan, a former army chief close to military leaders involved in the 2006 coup that removed Thaksin. “The army accepts the election results,” he told Reuters.
Puea Thai’s outright majority of an estimated 264 seats in the 500-seat parliament makes it hard for Thaksin’s rivals to stop Yingluck becoming Thailand’s first woman prime minister, which might have ignited protests by her red-shirted supporters who clashed with the army in deadly unrest last year.
“Winning by a big margin eases the problem of military intervening and makes it easier for them to form a government and implement all the policies,” said Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, chief executive of Asia Plus Securities. Yingluck announced she would form a five-party coalition controlling 299 seats, or about 60 percent of parliament, giving her a strong hand to fulfil her election promises. The 44-year-old businesswoman plans to roll out a long list of Thaksin-style populist programmes that could influence the direction of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy – from subway extensions to big wage increases and various giveaways aimed at boosting spending power, especially in rural areas.
