Yingluck Shinawatra set to be Thailand’s first female premier
Her party has won over 262 seats already:
Thailand: Yingluck Shinawatra was poised to become Thailand’s
first female prime minister Sunday after her party won a majority of
parliamentary seats in the nation’s general elections.
The official tally had not yet been completed, but with more than 90
percent of votes counted Sunday night, Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party had
won 262 seats in the country’s 500-seat parliament.
“The first thing I want to do is help people on their economic
situation,” she said earlier Sunday, refusing to declare victory until
the official count was over.
Minutes before, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva conceded that
she had won.
Yingluck is the younger sister of one of Thailand’s most polarizing
political figures, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was
ousted in a 2006 military coup.Two years later, he left the country
after being convicted on conflict of interest charges - accusations that
he still denies.
Flags with his image waved in the sticky night air outside the Pheu
Thai headquarters. A child wearing a shirt with his sister Yingluck’s
picture on it walked past them, trying to get closer to the celebration
outside.Yingluck’s critics worry she will simply do her brother’s
bidding - something she has denied. Before she even gave her victory
speech, her brother shared his comments from exile in Dubai. “Well, I
would tell them that I really want to go back, but I will wait for the
right moment and the right situation,” Thaksin told reporters. The Pheu
Thai party remains fiercely behind Thaksin and wants him to return.The
so-called “Yellow Shirts,” a group that formed to oust Thaksin from
power, will do whatever they can to stop that from happening.
What does his sister say about all this? CNN asked her three days
before the election.
“I can’t do anything special for my brother so as long as if my
brother will be every process we will follow by the rule of law,”
Yingluck said.
With about 47 million eligible voters in Thailand, Sunday’s balloting
was held to decide Thailand’s first general election since 2007.
CNN |
