Global IssuesThailand's Yingluck Announces Coalition
A day after she led Pheu Thai party to a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra has announced a new five-party coalition government.
Yingluck, a sister of the ousted leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, unveiled an agreement on Monday where the new coalition will control about 60 percent of parliament, or 299 seats.
The accord came unusually quickly, as constitution allows the new parliament 30 days of the elections to convene and select a house speaker, according to a 2007 constitution.
Pheu Thai won a majority of 265 in the 500-seat parliament - a margin big enough to rule alone without forming a coalition - and Yingluck is poised to become Thailand's first female prime minister.
Yingluck said on Monday the first mission of her administration would be 'how to lead the country to unity and reconciliation' and vowed to boost transparency and to fight corruption.
'I myself, and Pheu Thai, are determined to serve the nation,' she said.
Yingluck said her coalition would be joined by Chart Thai Pattana, with 19 seats in preliminary results; Chart Pattana Pheu Pandin, with seven seats; Palang Chon, seven; and Mahachon, one.
Abhisit resigns
Earlier on Monday Abhisit Vejjajiva, the outgoing prime minister, resigned from leadership of the Democrat party, taking responsibility for his party's loss.
'As the election results came out with the party winning fewer votes and fewer seats than in the 2007 poll, and in the spirit of a good leader of an organisation, I should take responsibility,' he said.
Abhisit said the Democrats will hold a general meeting within 90 days to choose a successor.
Thailand has been suffering from political instability for the past several years since Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon turned prime minister, was deposed in a 2006 military coup alongside conviction for corruption.
Thailand has seen 18 coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
Sunday's elections were held amid looming fears of a renewed turmoil, as the memory of last year's mass opposition rallies in Bangkok, the capital, which sparked a military crackdown that left at least 91 people dead.
However, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon, the Thai defence minister, eased concern on Monday by saying the army would accept a government led by 44-year-old Yingluck, and promising that the military would not stage a coup.
'I've said this several times,'' Prawit was quoted as saying by several Thai newspapers.
'We are not going to intervene.''
Critics of Yinigluck have voiced concerns that she might function as a power proxy for her billionaire older brother, or perhaps facilitating his return home.
Self-imposed exile
Thaksin faces a two-year prison sentence for corruption, which he escaped in 2006 on a self-imposed exile in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
He calls the charges politically motivated and has since been wielding significant influence on Thai politics from afar.
Speaking in Dubai on Monday, Thaksin praised the Thai people for the election results. He also denied rumours of his immediate homecoming, calling it 'not a major concern' nor 'a priority'.
'The top priority is to bring back reconciliation,' he said in an interview to a Thai broadcaster.
He said he would stay in the Gulf emirate for the time being 'doing business', but is willing to advise his sister's party upon need.
'If they don't need, I don't have to worry. The Thai people will be in good hands,'' he told a Thai broadcaster.
On his possible return to politics, Thaksin said: 'I may be too old ... I really want to retire.''
*Published under an agreement with Al-Jazeera.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service