The Lost Boy

Thailand will have its first female prime minister

No real surprises with the Thai election today. Yingluck Shinawatra is all set to become Thailand first female PM. As AP reported today, "Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party had a strong lead with 261 of 500 parliament seats, well over the majority needed to form a government. Abhisit’s Democrats had 162 seats." Essentially we're back at square one now with the Pheu Thai party being the latest incarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party. The test now is whether the vote is respected and all sides agree to let the next government be formed and see out a term. Voter turnout was 74% of 47 million eligible voters.

Yingluck's bro, former prime minister Thaksin, is of course talking up "democracy" in the liberal sense, rather than the Thai-style sense. As we all know, Thaksin was democratically elected in Thailand, but the means he used to rise to power, to get people's votes and to win people's support weren't really very democratic at all. It should come as no surprise that Thaksin has said he wants to return home and he has even hinted at a possible date:

Speaking before Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva conceded defeat, he said: "What is more exciting is that the voter turnout is high, showing that the Thai people want to see democracy and national reconciliation."

Pheu Thai Party leader Yingluck Shinawatra said older brother Thaksin had called to congratulate her after the results of the exit polls were released.

"Khun Thaksin called to congratulate me and give me his morale support. He said a lot of hard work still lies ahead," Ms Yingluck told supporters who turned up in large numbers at the party headquarters yesterday afternoon.

Thaksin admitted during the interview that he wanted to return to Thailand as soon as possible, but said: "If my return would cause problems, I won't do it".

He added that he wants to be part of the solution for the challenges facing the country.

As a father, he also wishes to attend the wedding of his daughter, Ms Pinthongta Shinawatra, in December. But he said if he could not do so, his daughter could visit him instead.

Most of the attention in the aftermath of the vote-counting was focussed on Thaksin, rather than Yingluck, which was slightly alarming. She did have a few words to say though:

"I don't want to say that Pheu Thai has won today. The people have given us an opportunity to serve and there will be a lot of duties ahead," she said.

"It is the exercising of rights by people that gave me this opportunity," she said at 8pm at the Pheu Thai headquarters, which was crowded with photographers, reporters, and many jubilant party supporters.

At her news conference at the Pheu Thai HQ, she told foreign press in an interview that she had not won simply because she was a part of the Shinawatra family.

She added that she was still waiting for an official election outcome in order to decide about the make-up of a new coalition government. Chart Thai Pattana has already been in contact and expressed its willingness to join the coalition, according to Yingluck.

The only thing we can really be sure about is that Thailand has had an election and that a new government is imminent. What comes next is rather unpredictable, but what is clearly needed is a consolidation of democracy, which doesn't come overnight. The Democrats have taken a real pounding at the polls today and the people have spoken for the timebeing.

Bangkok Pundit has an in-depth analysis of today's results for those who like to dig a little deeper with the figures.

This Reuters story caught my attention today:

But some Thais, especially females, want to give her the benefit of the doubt and see this as a big step for women in a country where they have struggled for equal representation in government.

"I've always wanted to have the first lady prime minister," said Areerak Saelim, 42-year-old owner of a sunglass shop in a Bangkok market.

"I've seen too many men failing to run the country. Maybe this time, things will be different. What women are — and men aren't — is meticulous. I'm pretty sure she can do the job based on her age and successful career."

Yingluck has promised to revive her brother's populist policies and raise living standards among the poor, vowing to pursue national reconciliation to end a six-year political crisis, without seeking vengeance for her brother's overthrow by the military in 2006.

"More and more women are capable, knowledgeable and can actually get the job done these days," said Yaowalak Poolthong, first executive vice-president of Krung Thai Bank Pcl.

"I don't think gender should be an issue, limiting who can or can't do the job."

If history has taught us anything in Asia, it's that having a female leaders does not mean that women's rights are suddenly improved or even given special consideration. Yes, Yingluck is a woman, but as far as I'm aware, her campaign made little mention of establishing greater rights for women in any part of Thai society. So while people around the world may take this as a sign of progress in Thailand, it isn't really.