A surprise for many but Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, scored a clear victory with her party Pheu Thai (264 seats to the current incumbents 160). A political novice but a business woman in her own right, Ms Shinawatra will become the first female prime minister of Thailand.
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| Yingluck Shinawatra |
However, many see her appointment as merely the voice of Thaksin, the Prime Minister who was ousted out of government by a military coup and then forced into excel to Dubai over corruption charges. Her victory was delivered by a huge vote in favour of her party in the North of Thailand where Thaksin and his party are hugely popular, here in the South there is considerably less support for her and there was a high turnout for Prime Minister Abhisit.
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| Thaksin Shinawatra |
But all parties fought the election on a promise of unity and reconciliation and both the Thai population and the Westerners living here really hope that she will deliver, but clearly the army generals who deposed Thaksin in 2006 and the Yellow Shirts (those who have shown vigorous opposition to Thaksin) are not going to be happy with this result.
However, the wonderful thing about living on a island such as this, is that you feel remote from all politics, Thai, English and World and envisage any disruption caused by dissenters will not affect our beautiful island. So our one day of politics is over on the island, today the sun is shining and sea is tranquil, something we hope for the whole of Thailand.
Mellisa x
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