"Leader faces tough job in uniting Thailand; Political novice must labor in brother’s shadow" August 06, 2011|By Thomas Fuller, New York Times
BANGKOK - Parliament elected Yingluck Shinawatra as Thailand’s first female prime minister yesterday, a month after her party won a landslide victory over a coalition backed by the military and traditional elites....
She is the youngest sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. Thaksin - who now lives in Dubai, evading a jail term here for abuse of power - looms large as the kingmaker and impresario of the incoming administration and his sister’s Pheu Thai Party....
Shinawatra must deliver on her party’s ambitious promises: a sharp increase in the minimum wage, the construction of high-speed rail lines, providing free tablet computers to primary school students, and revamping the country’s health care system, among many others.
But her greatest challenge may be uniting a fractured society, a task that eluded the four previous governments. Shinawatra has repeatedly sought to assuage the Thai military.
Meaning the military bailed on the Yellow shirts, 'eh?
Pheu Thai won the July 3 election thanks to strong support from the north and northeastern parts of the country, where her brother’s policies - universal health care, a crackdown on drugs, and greater financing for local governments - proved very popular.
The losing Democrat Party is the oldest in Thailand and is generally supported by old-money business owners and the current military hierarchy.
That's not what I read before, but hey, why argue whether it's another corporate media lie? Just accept that it is a lie or distortion until proven otherwise.
But Shinawatra appears to be forging her own alliance with some of the elite.
The essence of governing.
Her victory and that of her party has nonetheless sharpened divisions between rural and urban areas and started a debate over the significance of a woman leading the country.
Shinawatra, who is 18 years younger than her brother, has spent recent weeks denying stories in the Thai media that he is calling the shots from abroad, that he is helping choose the Cabinet and wheeling and dealing on her behalf. She has vowed to work independently.
That SURE SEEMS to be the CASE!
“I will be myself,’’ Shinawatra told reporters last month....
Despite her family’s fortune, Shinawatra was often portrayed in the campaign as an upcountry girl who was in touch with plebeian Thailand....
She is a rarity in the often macho world of Thai politics, but as someone who has never held political office before, she is also one of the least experienced leaders to emerge in a major Asian country in decades. Her political career spans about 80 days....
But she sure is purty!
--more--"
Related: Confirmed: Thailand's "Pro-Democracy" Movement Working for US
Which is what I've been saying all along if you take the time to check.
