Thaksin allies in Thai election landslide: exit polls
by Daniel Rook
BANGKOK, July 3, 2011 (AFP) - Opposition allies of Thai fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra scored a landslide election win, exit polls showed Sunday, marking a stunning comeback after years of turmoil sparked by a military coup.
The poll was the first major electoral test for the elite-backed government since mass protests by Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters last year paralysed Bangkok and unleashed the worst political violence in decades.
Thaksin's Puea Thai Party is set to win 313 seats out of 500, against 152 for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats, according to a projection by Suan Dusit University. Other exit polls painted a similar picture. . .
. . .Toppled by the military in 2006 and now living in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a jail term for corruption, Thaksin nevertheless dominated the election, after tapping his youngest sister to run in his place.You can hear an English language interview, sent by a friend in Thailand, with Yingluck Shinawatra below.
Yingluck Shinawatra, a telegenic businesswoman who is now set to become Thailand's first ever female prime minister, is a 44-year-old political novice described by Thaksin as his "clone".
What does this mean? Hard for me to tell, but the educated Bangkok elite were trounced by the rural voters and working class. The NGO I volunteered with in Chiangmai were not red shirts and I'm sure they are unhappy with this turn of events.
Tony Cartalucci has an interesting take on aspects of this. "Asian Summer" is a term I'm seeing pop up more every week.
ReplyDeletePhil, I followed your link and read the article. What he writes doesn't ring true to what I know about Thailand.
ReplyDeleteIt's as though he has a model of the world - the capitalist elite are taking over the world - and then everything he sees reinforces this view. If someone has any connection to anything he deems elitist - a school, an organization, - it's proof the person is part of the conspiracy. About as subtle as the world view of a former Alaskan governor.
For example, I'm confused by what he's saying about Thailand. Is the Red Shirt victory due to CIA training programs to overthrow the elitist Abhasit (Oxford grad) government? Or is billionaire Taksin, whose sister is in line to become the first female prime minister, part of the conspiracy?
Do you know the long history of Anwar Ibrahim? His long history of dissent (and consequent prison terms) in Malaysia? I'm still scratching my head at the charge that even though he's labeled a 'globalist-stooge' one group that's supporting him is damned for being socialists and sporting clenched fists on their t-shirts.
He argues Aung San Suu Kyi, who's been under house arrest for a decade and a half, is another capitalist pawn to open Burma to international corporations. But he neglects that the Burmese people have been brutalized for 20 years and welcomed multi-national oil corporations from China, the US, France, etc. to help pay for their control.
The world is far more complicated than the post you link to suggests. People are more nuanced and taking one facet of their history and using it to smear them is irresponsible. By the left or the right, or whatever other direction there is out there.
It's not clear what exactly he's against. It's less clear what he's for. Is he only looking to support people who have no connection with top universities and internationally significant organizations?