Yingluck Shinawatra was confirmed as Thailand’s first female prime minister yesterday, as the volatile kingdom begins a new chapter after years of political upheaval since her brother was ousted.
Weeks after she was propelled from relative obscurity to election victory by the support of her older sibling, fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck won parliamentary approval to be Thailand’s 28th premier.
Retaining the air of calm assurance she displayed in the run up to her party’s crushing election victory last month, Yingluck said she was “excited to start work” after winning the support of 296 members of the lower house out of a potential 500.
“People will judge whether my work satisfies them and meets their expectations or not,” she told reporters after the vote.
Supporters and members of the “Red Shirt” protest movement loyal to Thaksin, gathered at the Bangkok headquarters of her Puea Thai party on Friday evening in expectation of a royal endorsement that will formalise her position.
“It is good that Yingluck has become our prime minister. I think she can solve the problems in the country — do not underestimate women,” said Rattanaporn Bosakaranut, 76, reflecting the cheerful optimism of those present.
Puea Thai and its partners command a three-fifths parliamentary majority after a resounding victory in the July 3 election over the pro-establishment Democrats of outgoing leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Yingluck has since consolidated her parliamentary dominance by forming a six-party coalition that accounts for 300 of the legislature’s 500 seats.
But the 44-year-old, described by her brother as his “clone”, faces the challenge of healing the bitter political split that has torn the country in two in the years since Thaksin was thrown out of office in a 2006 army coup backed by Thailand’s elite.
Analysts believe the first test for the fresh-faced political newcomer will simply be whether she can hang on to power in a country where the removal of leaders is commonplace.
Thailand has seen 18 actual or attempted military coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932 and only one prime minister in that time has served a full four-year term — Thaksin.
“We are still in the middle of a very big conflict in the country with very different ideas about what government should be, and what it should be doing,” said Thai political analyst Chris Baker.
Baker said Yingluck’s parliamentary majority — along with the weakened state of the nationalist and anti-Thaksin “Yellow Shirt” protest movement and a lack of public support for the army — will give her “breathing room”.
Yingluck yesterday again denied suggestions that Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption and is despised by the Thailand’s elites, is controlling her party from afar.
Asked if she was in contact with her brother, she replied: “No, I am not talking to anyone.”
Yingluck is expected to face pressure from the mainly poor and working class Reds, many of whom support Thaksin for his populist policies during his 2001-2006 rule.
Red Shirt supporters gathered outside the parliament building ahead of the vote on Friday morning, many wearing their signature coloured tops bearing pictures of Yingluck’s face.
The movement, which has key representatives in Yingluck’s party, will expect justice over its April and May rallies last year that ended with a military assault and more than 90 people dead.
Vote-grabbing promises, such as a minimum wage hike and higher rice prices for farmers, were a nod to Thailand’s less economically fortunate, but the Bank of Thailand has warned they could stoke inflation.
Yingluck, who said she would work on finalising her cabinet over the weekend, said her first thought would be the poorer in society.
“Our first priority is to solve the high cost of living for people,” she said.
-With The Daily Star input
