Thai ex-premier’s sister prepares to lead government

Yingluck Shinawatra, whose brother was deposed from the post of prime minister by a military coup in 2006, is set to become Thailand’s first female leader after a vote that marks a political comeback for Mr Shinawatra.

Ms Shinawatra, whose Pheu Thai Party already has won a majority of 265 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament according to the preliminary results of Sunday’s polling, announced an agreement that would boost her coalition to 299 seats.

That agreement came unusually quickly for Thai politics, where hard bargaining usually takes place over allocation of cabinet seats. The pact should give Ms Shinawatra’s government-to-be some stability, especially if legal challenges under electoral law force some of her party’s lawmakers from their positions.

The Democrat Party, which has led a coalition government for more than three years, will be in opposition.

Earlier, Ms Shinawatra acknowledged huge challenges in reconciling the divided country, after an election victory seen as a rebuke of the military-backed establishment that deposed her brother.

The large mandate will probably boost Thailand’s stability in the short term – the Thai stock market rose sharply yesterday – and reduce the chance of intervention by the coup-prone armed forces.

The victory comes a year after the government crushed protests by supporters of Mr Shinawatra with a bloody crackdown that culminated in some of the worst violence in 20 years and ended with parts of the capital ablaze in a wave of arson attacks allegedly carried out by fleeing protesters.

In a late night victory speech in Bangkok on Sunday, Ms Shinawatra said: “I don’t like to say that Pheu Thai has won, but I’d rather say the people have given the Pheu Thai Party and myself a chance to serve them.”

“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.

Yesterday, the incumbent prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resigned as leader of the losing ruling party, Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Smutharaks said. The Democrats won 159 seats.

Ms Shinawatra is widely considered to be a proxy of her brother. Mr Shinawatra, who was deposed as prime minister after being accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the nation’s king, was barred from politics in 2007 and convicted on graft charges the next year. He lives in Dubai.

His overthrow touched off a divide between the country’s rich and the long-silent poor.