Pheu Thai Party Secures Clear Majority In General Election: Election Commission

[webfact]

Pheu Thai party secures clear majority in general election: Election Commission

BANGKOK, July 4 -- Thailand's Pheu Thai Party won the country’s 26th general election on Sunday scoring a clear majority, with the Election Commission (EC) scheduled to announce the unofficial result of the completed vote counting at 10am.

According to the earlier result, Pheu Thai won a majority of 265 seats out of 500 in the House of Representatives; the Democrat party received 159 seats; Bhumijaithai, 34; Chartthaipattana, 19; Palung Chon, seven; Chart Pattana Puea Pandin, seven; Rak Prathet Thai Party, four; Matubhum, two and one seat only for the Rak Santi party.

Meanwhile, BMA Permanent Secretary Charoenrat Chutikarn said according to the unofficial result of the vote count in Bangkok, in the total of 33 constituencies, the Democrat party won 23 seats, while the Pheu Thai party received 10 seats.

Some 3.01 million voters or 71.61 per cent of the 4.26 million eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots, he said.

In the constituency-based election, 168,108 or 5.36 per cent were invalid ballots. A reported 180,541 ballots indicated that 5.98 of voters did not vote for any candidates.

In the party-list category, there were 58,962 invalid ballots or 1.95 per cent while 133,945 persons, 4.44 per cent of those who cast ballots, marked the "Vote No" box.

Thawi Watthana constituency recorded the highest turnout with 77.21 per cent of eligible voters participating, while the other end of the spectrum was Dusit with 63.73 per cent.

Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva posted a message on his Facebook page after midnight thanking supporters who voted for his party and asking his followers to support democracy moving forward, to rebuild confidence in Thailand in the international community.

Repeating his speech last night after learning the unofficial results indicated that the Pheu Thai party had clear majority in Parliament, Mr Abhisit conceded the defeat and congratulated the Pheu Thai party for having the opportunity to lead the next government and congratulated top Puea Thai party listed candidate Yingluck Shinawatra who will become Thailand's first female Thai prime minister.

He added that he would not disclosel his own future right now as he would like to wait and see the final result of the election, but he has already an answer in mind.

The Pheu Thai party reportedly began negotiating with smaller parties to form partners in a new coalition government.

Ms Yingluck said last night that it has discussed the possibility of Chartthaipattana joining the coalition, while sources said the Palang Chon Party and Chart Pattana Puea Pandin party could also join the coalition. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-07-04

[geriatrickid]

Some of the smaller parties that tried to hold out for bigger and better incentives to join a PTP coalition must be kicking themselves right about now.

[steveromagnino]

Geriatrickid - some of the smaller parties are basically a pack of, for want of a better word, prostitutes who wanted to play both sides of the field (bisexual prostitutes?)

They also thought that there would be enough of a groundswell against the Dems, but maybe never expected it to end up so solidly PT.

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course); the Dems basically performed much the same as before, it was the smaller parties that really suffered in the election.

Chuwit I think did very well; BJT were a disappointment (but knew they would end up aligned with the Dems anyhow); Palungchol did about as expected and will get a cabinet seat; the rest will be fighting over crumbs compared to the deal they had with the Dems, I would expect PT will gobble them up again as they did in the past.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Some of the smaller parties that tried to hold out for bigger and better incentives to join a PTP coalition must be kicking themselves right about now.

She has over 50% of the seats so in theory she doesn't have to bring any other party in to the government. Maybe she set in motion a contingency plan if she hadn't have obtained a simple majority then she must have made certain promises that she would involve other parties joining in government. This is the only reason that I can guess can be the case as most other countries newly formed governments would work on the premis that that's it, mission accomplished, sod the rest of you - losers!!!

[NanLaew]

... After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

That depends on how many use 'Depends'.

[avalonmick]

Ministers don't get to vote in the House so she needs probably more than 270 to allow for 10-15 Ministers and still retain a voting majority.

However this should mean she does not need to trade ministries to get coalition partners.

Some of the smaller parties that tried to hold out for bigger and better incentives to join a PTP coalition must be kicking themselves right about now.

She has over 50% of the seats so in theory she doesn't have to bring any other party in to the government. Maybe she set in motion a contingency plan if she hadn't have obtained a simple majority then she must have made certain promises that she would involve other parties joining in government. This is the only reason that I can guess can be the case as most other countries newly formed governments would work on the premis that that's it, mission accomplished, sod the rest of you - losers!!!

[metisdead]

One post in unusually large fonts has been removed. There is no need to shout.

[bobmac10]

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

Precisely... I agree wholeheartedly, this forum sometimes looks like a blog for the Maggie Thatcher fan club... i would say there is a fundamental disconnect between the average Thai and his aspirations and the majority of Farang commentators.

The reds have won because they wanted a government that understood them and paid some attention to their needs.

This what Thaksin did, and they remembered him for it.

The Dem's just don't get it, they represent a minority from business and civil service, who generally look down on their country bretheren.

They will need to be more inclusive if they want to win power again, perhaps it's a good thing, some time in the wilderness this time will force them to look at their party and their policies if they expect to win an election.

meanwhile PT have already signalled they will continue with their previous policies of small loans to farmers, student loans, guaranteed prices for farmers, the things that really matter to the villagers.

I think it's a good thing for democracy in this country.

let's hope the military can stick to protecting the borders and not meddling in politics.

[hammered]

Its reported that Banharn will beg for his allies BJT to be allowed into the coalition. Of course more MPs means more cabinet posts and more trough time. It takes an old style poltician to reduce it to nauseating levels.

Hopefully PTP will go for a more minimal controllable coalition and keep the big portfolios especially economic and development ones for itself so actually governing works better

[Madivad]

Let's not forget that this government too can be thrown out by the courts as has happened in the past... So maybe Abhisit shouldn't resign just yet ;-)

[steveromagnino]

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

4 weeks before the election every poll and vitually every informed commentator had PT and Dems very close.

It was a very very well executed campaign by one party, and a relatively poor showing by the Dems that led to the result we see now; take a look at opinion polls from 6 weeks ago and it was far from clear at that point whether PT would come even close to beating the Dems let along an absolute majority.

What we have seen is not much policy (other than every party engaging in a giveaway package rivalling Santa) and a LOT of excellent PR, excellent sound bites; excellent political campaigning.

If you can point out to me which policies SPECIFICALLY that are different between the various parties other than perhaps the rice pledging vote buying scheme vs. minimum price guarantee policy we have now; I think you'll find there aren't that many.

What is very different is how these were communicated; how Yingluck was somehow able to obtain the saying little /reconciliation/high road path while Abhisit and his handlers consigned the Democrats to scraping around talking about the rallies instead of talking about the joint future journey.

Of course, the red shirt support and ability to directly slag off opponents and also some of the less savoury aspects of political campaigning helped, but those pale in the face of excellent political campaigning.

Seriously, it's not hard, TRT built the roadmap for it back in 2001, and the smaller parties as well the as the Dems are still engaged in the picture of candidate PM looking over the shoulder couple of bullet points style campaigns from pre 2000 while PT have detailed market research; catch prhases; advocates in multiple channels including media; it's like watching a kid trying to hit Pernell Whitaker.

Looking down any main road; 50%+ of the signs in any location were PT; that's about indicative of effort to campaign; 50%+ of the effort was done by PT and they won about 50%+ of the seats.

[Jirapa]

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

That's funny!

[sydneyjed]

Here we go again..another 'one hit post wonder/wanke_r' attempting to be a smart a..e!!!As usual you don't need to possess a long neck,orange beak and white feathers to be a goose around here!!

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

Edited July 4, 2011 by sydneyjed

[SICHONSTEVE]

Ministers don't get to vote in the House so she needs probably more than 270 to allow for 10-15 Ministers and still retain a voting majority.

However this should mean she does not need to trade ministries to get coalition partners.

Some of the smaller parties that tried to hold out for bigger and better incentives to join a PTP coalition must be kicking themselves right about now.

She has over 50% of the seats so in theory she doesn't have to bring any other party in to the government. Maybe she set in motion a contingency plan if she hadn't have obtained a simple majority then she must have made certain promises that she would involve other parties joining in government. This is the only reason that I can guess can be the case as most other countries newly formed governments would work on the premis that that's it, mission accomplished, sod the rest of you - losers!!!

Thank you for explaining that to me "avalongmick"!!! I was blissfully unaware that this is the case.

[Beetlejuice]

It is obvious from the beginning that Yingluck is going to win this election; as a matter of fact she cannot fail.

This is a vote of the classes not so much by political persuasion and as the working classes are the majority in Thailand, well, you can work this out for yourselves.

The so-called elite that require the backing of the military to stay in power, held out as long as possible before going up for election. If they would have dragged their feet any longer, then Thailand would have been viewed internationally as a stratocracy and not as a democracy, the image that Thailand wants to portray of it`s self for many reasons.

Yinluck is a puppet for her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra and sooner rather than later, she will manipulate the law so as her long lost brother is able to return to Thailand, with all old differences forgotten and with a fresh start to his political career. Just like the quote made by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie, The Terminator, I’ll Be Back and I always knew he would be. But this will inevitably enrage the opposition and civil war maybe imminent.

Whether you like Thaksin or not, this could be bad news for those living here whose countries revoked Thaksin`s visa when he was a bad guy, master criminal, an enemy of the Thai people and fugitive on the run, especially Britain. Remember his quote? The British will pay for how they treated me.

Like the title of the Fred Astaire song; I can see trouble ahead.

[SICHONSTEVE]

I haven't checked up on this (too lazy in my old age) but surely only someone who has not yet been committed of a crime can be given an amnesty against crimes they may have perpetrated, or have been generally acknowledged as being party to the crimes carried out due to conclusive or over-riding evidence pointing to that fact.

As Thaksin was found guilty by the courts then surely he cannot claim amnesty on something that he fled the country for (in order to avoid having to carry out his sentence of 2 years imprisonment) and is living in exile on account of this!!

I would imagine that only a pardon (from the king) would excuse him of serving his sentence (given in abstentia) and that no law could (or would be allowed) to be passed relieving him of his crimes. That in itself would make it a travesty of justice and in itself would demean the powers of the courts of the land.

Any ready made explanations on how such a law could be brought into being that could get Thaksin off the hook, because I can't think of a legal way to do it????

[xminator]

Some of the smaller parties that tried to hold out for bigger and better incentives to join a PTP coalition must be kicking themselves right about now.

She has over 50% of the seats so in theory she doesn't have to bring any other party in to the government. Maybe she set in motion a contingency plan if she hadn't have obtained a simple majority then she must have made certain promises that she would involve other parties joining in government. This is the only reason that I can guess can be the case as most other countries newly formed governments would work on the premis that that's it, mission accomplished, sod the rest of you - losers!!!

The reason PT seeks coalition partners is that they want a government with a majority of voters behind them and not just a majority of seats. In a 1 man constituency system the margin is often large. It is not that much separating the PT seats from PT actuall votes, but look at Bangkok where close to 50% of the votes only got 30% of the seats. Thats the true weakness of 1-man-constituency system.

[Mitker]

It is obvious from the beginning that Yingluck is going to win this election; as a matter of fact she cannot fail.

This is a vote of the classes not so much by political persuasion and as the working classes are the majority in Thailand, well, you can work this out for yourselves.

The so-called elite that require the backing of the military to stay in power, held out as long as possible before going up for election. If they would have dragged their feet any longer, then Thailand would have been viewed internationally as a stratocracy and not as a democracy, the image that Thailand wants to portray of it`s self for many reasons.

Yinluck is a puppet for her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra and sooner rather than later, she will manipulate the law so as her long lost brother is able to return to Thailand, with all old differences forgotten and with a fresh start to his political career. Just like the quote made by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie, The Terminator, I'll Be Back and I always knew he would be. But this will inevitably enrage the opposition and civil war maybe imminent.

Whether you like Thaksin or not, this could be bad news for those living here whose countries revoked Thaksin`s visa when he was a bad guy, master criminal, an enemy of the Thai people and fugitive on the run, especially Britain. Remember his quote? The British will pay for how they treated me.

Like the title of the Fred Astaire song; I can see trouble ahead.

I couldn't agree more. Right picture of what comes ahead.

[sausageandmash]

Strange, I didn't see anyone mentioning Maggie Thatcher's name once. Maybey you're just fantasising.

Of course, everyone will compare her with Mrs Thatcher, that's just human nature. Yingluck will need to be even stronger than the Iron Lady if she is to survive in this job.

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

Precisely... I agree wholeheartedly, this forum sometimes looks like a blog for the Maggie Thatcher fan club... i would say there is a fundamental disconnect between the average Thai and his aspirations and the majority of Farang commentators.

The reds have won because they wanted a government that understood them and paid some attention to their needs.

This what Thaksin did, and they remembered him for it.

The Dem's just don't get it, they represent a minority from business and civil service, who generally look down on their country bretheren.

They will need to be more inclusive if they want to win power again, perhaps it's a good thing, some time in the wilderness this time will force them to look at their party and their policies if they expect to win an election.

meanwhile PT have already signalled they will continue with their previous policies of small loans to farmers, student loans, guaranteed prices for farmers, the things that really matter to the villagers.

I think it's a good thing for democracy in this country.

let's hope the military can stick to protecting the borders and not meddling in politics.

[farang000999]

Bad economy/high prices/generally unhappy populous = bad for ruling party.

show me a country where the incumbents are taking a beating?

thaksin needs to thank timothy geithner for the high oil and rice prices.

[kmj]

Let's not forget that this government too can be thrown out by the courts as has happened in the past... So maybe Abhisit shouldn't resign just yet ;-)

And then you wake up, and it's all a dream 5555

[sausageandmash]

I very much doubt he will take it out on Brits living here. There were so many countries that revoked his Visa, including the USA, he hardly had his pick of countries to choose from to live in.

I even seriously doubt he will return and if he does, there will probably be an executioner waiting for him.

It is obvious from the beginning that Yingluck is going to win this election; as a matter of fact she cannot fail.

This is a vote of the classes not so much by political persuasion and as the working classes are the majority in Thailand, well, you can work this out for yourselves.

The so-called elite that require the backing of the military to stay in power, held out as long as possible before going up for election. If they would have dragged their feet any longer, then Thailand would have been viewed internationally as a stratocracy and not as a democracy, the image that Thailand wants to portray of it`s self for many reasons.

Yinluck is a puppet for her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra and sooner rather than later, she will manipulate the law so as her long lost brother is able to return to Thailand, with all old differences forgotten and with a fresh start to his political career. Just like the quote made by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie, The Terminator, I'll Be Back and I always knew he would be. But this will inevitably enrage the opposition and civil war maybe imminent.

Whether you like Thaksin or not, this could be bad news for those living here whose countries revoked Thaksin`s visa when he was a bad guy, master criminal, an enemy of the Thai people and fugitive on the run, especially Britain. Remember his quote? The British will pay for how they treated me.

Like the title of the Fred Astaire song; I can see trouble ahead.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Strange, I didn't see anyone mentioning Maggie Thatcher's name once. Maybey you're just fantasising.

Of course, everyone will compare her with Mrs Thatcher, that's just human nature. Yingluck will need to be even stronger than the Iron Lady if she is to survive in this job.

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

Precisely... I agree wholeheartedly, this forum sometimes looks like a blog for the Maggie Thatcher fan club... i would say there is a fundamental disconnect between the average Thai and his aspirations and the majority of Farang commentators.

The reds have won because they wanted a government that understood them and paid some attention to their needs.

This what Thaksin did, and they remembered him for it.

The Dem's just don't get it, they represent a minority from business and civil service, who generally look down on their country bretheren.

They will need to be more inclusive if they want to win power again, perhaps it's a good thing, some time in the wilderness this time will force them to look at their party and their policies if they expect to win an election.

meanwhile PT have already signalled they will continue with their previous policies of small loans to farmers, student loans, guaranteed prices for farmers, the things that really matter to the villagers.

I think it's a good thing for democracy in this country.

let's hope the military can stick to protecting the borders and not meddling in politics.

She's missed out on one trick. She should have bid for Thatchers infamous handbag sold just recently - you know!! the one that framed her "hand-bagging" moniker.

However the children should hold on to their milk cartons whenever Yingluck visits a school as if she uses Maggie as a role model then it will be snatched from them in "the blink of an eye-lid"!!!

[Joop50]

Yinluck is a puppet for her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra and sooner rather than later, she will manipulate the law so as her long lost brother is able to return to Thailand, with all old differences forgotten and with a fresh start to his political career.

Let's say she probable re-manipulates the law. Even better will be she let re-write the law. The law in this country gives to many preference to the upper-class. And don't forget, the majority loves this man because he is the first one who gave attention and benefits to the poor class. He is their hope for a better live.

[kissrev1]

They also completely underestimated how much PT was willing to financially throw at the election (banners, signage, legal stuff of course)

Yes of course, THAT is the only reason PT won an outright majority against more than a dozen other parties: and so THAT explains why almost every pro-Yellow pundit here on ThaiVisa forums has been shown to be completely and utterly wrong in their predictions.

I knew there would be some reason. After all, five hundred pissed-up viagra-fed farang pensioners can't be wrong, can they?

Precisely... I agree wholeheartedly, this forum sometimes looks like a blog for the Maggie Thatcher fan club... i would say there is a fundamental disconnect between the average Thai and his aspirations and the majority of Farang commentators.

The reds have won because they wanted a government that understood them and paid some attention to their needs.

This what Thaksin did, and they remembered him for it.

The Dem's just don't get it, they represent a minority from business and civil service, who generally look down on their country bretheren.

They will need to be more inclusive if they want to win power again, perhaps it's a good thing, some time in the wilderness this time will force them to look at their party and their policies if they expect to win an election.

meanwhile PT have already signalled they will continue with their previous policies of small loans to farmers, student loans, guaranteed prices for farmers, the things that really matter to the villagers.

I think it's a good thing for democracy in this country.

let's hope the military can stick to protecting the borders and not meddling in politics.

[kissrev1]

Spot on Bobmac! I have grown so weary of farang pensioner knowitalls pontificating on what the Thai people need to do. The truth is that you could live in Thailand for forty years and still never understand Thai culture, completely. Let them run their country and butt out already!

[millwall_fan]

It was a very very well executed campaign by one party, and a relatively poor showing by the Dems that led to the result we see now; take a look at opinion polls from 6 weeks ago and it was far from clear at that point whether PT would come even close to beating the Dems let along an absolute majority.

What we have seen is not much policy (other than every party engaging in a giveaway package rivalling Santa) and a LOT of excellent PR, excellent sound bites; excellent political campaigning.

If you can point out to me which policies SPECIFICALLY that are different between the various parties other than perhaps the rice pledging vote buying scheme vs. minimum price guarantee policy we have now; I think you'll find there aren't that many.

What is very different is how these were communicated; how Yingluck was somehow able to obtain the saying little /reconciliation/high road path while Abhisit and his handlers consigned the Democrats to scraping around talking about the rallies instead of talking about the joint future journey.

Of course, the red shirt support and ability to directly slag off opponents and also some of the less savoury aspects of political campaigning helped, but those pale in the face of excellent political campaigning.

Seriously, it's not hard, TRT built the roadmap for it back in 2001, and the smaller parties as well the as the Dems are still engaged in the picture of candidate PM looking over the shoulder couple of bullet points style campaigns from pre 2000 while PT have detailed market research; catch prhases; advocates in multiple channels including media; it's like watching a kid trying to hit Pernell Whitaker.

Looking down any main road; 50%+ of the signs in any location were PT; that's about indicative of effort to campaign; 50%+ of the effort was done by PT and they won about 50%+ of the seats.

It's not really surprising that the polls underestimated PT's support, Polling Organisations tend to be Bangkok centric -overweighting the city in polls; the young canvassers for the polling companies tend to be disinclined to get their nice Clark's Brogues dirty trampling through chicken shit in in a hamlet in backwoods Amnat Charoen to find out what the farmer thinks and even if the odd one did that, it is unlikley that the pollsters plummy Bangkok accent would elicit a full and frank answer to his questions about voting inentions!!

I very much doubt he will take it out on Brits living here. There were so many countries that revoked his Visa, including the USA, he hardly had his pick of countries to choose from to live in.

I even seriously doubt he will return and if he does, there will probably be an executioner waiting for him.

Things are looking pretty good for Thailand's Montenegran community though - maybe they'll get 90 day visas on arrival like the Japanese are getting!!

[KevinB]

Sorry I couldn't get on earlier - my password wasn't working.

What a pleasure to read all the comments which seem to forget what all the Expat dreamers were really believing - with their head in the sand - that Taksin won't be coming back. You are typical Bangkok folk (23 out of the 33 seats up for grabs going to an elitist party called democrats - which they are not really) - a bunch of realatively wealthy folk who appreciate the easy life and the domestic help - get so frustrated when they go "up-country" (almost a dirty word in the city) and don't come back to their well paid ThB 7000 per month jobs. Folk who can't think for one moment why these "dumb" maids and gardeners and under-paid factory and fish farm workers voted Red.

At least there are others like me who have seen this coming since that night in September 2006 - when the TVs suddenly switched to an empty desk with a flag behind it while we waited to hear we were being rescued from evil. Folk like me who knew things were wrong: when you occupy an International airport and don't even get a slap on the wrist; can't beleive their ears when a person who won a majority is banned from politics for appearing on a cooking programme; when people who didn't win an election end up as the PM; when snipers "execute" people in front of TV cameras.

For us the day a smart lady with a lovely smile wins an OUTRIGHT VICTORY - we know that the people of Thailand have taken their country back from a bunch of elitists and thieves.

Well done all the common folk - the victory is yours - and if you want to pressurise this establishment to forgive someone and return the money stolen from him - then go ahead and DEMAND IT - this is again your Government.

[EnSvenskTiger]

@ KevinB +1

Tiger

[OzMick]

Sorry I couldn't get on earlier - my password wasn't working.

What a pleasure to read all the comments which seem to forget what all the Expat dreamers were really believing - with their head in the sand - that Taksin won't be coming back. You are typical Bangkok folk (23 out of the 33 seats up for grabs going to an elitist party called democrats - which they are not really) - a bunch of realatively wealthy folk who appreciate the easy life and the domestic help - get so frustrated when they go "up-country" (almost a dirty word in the city) and don't come back to their well paid ThB 7000 per month jobs. Folk who can't think for one moment why these "dumb" maids and gardeners and under-paid factory and fish farm workers voted Red.

At least there are others like me who have seen this coming since that night in September 2006 - when the TVs suddenly switched to an empty desk with a flag behind it while we waited to hear we were being rescued from evil. Folk like me who knew things were wrong: when you occupy an International airport and don't even get a slap on the wrist; can't beleive their ears when a person who won a majority is banned from politics for appearing on a cooking programme; when people who didn't win an election end up as the PM; when snipers "execute" people in front of TV cameras.

For us the day a smart lady with a lovely smile wins an OUTRIGHT VICTORY - we know that the people of Thailand have taken their country back from a bunch of elitists and thieves.

Well done all the common folk - the victory is yours - and if you want to pressurise this establishment to forgive someone and return the money stolen from him - then go ahead and DEMAND IT - this is again your Government.

Was that an attempt at humour, or do you like to post untruths? Are 2/3 of the people in BKK elitist rich, middle class, or simply working stiffs on B7,000/month, but well enough informed to vote for responsible management?

Are the yellow shirts not facing court? Could you believe your ears when Samak was proved to be a liar under oath (much like the new PM) in a court of law - that was why he was dismissed, and why he was not re-appointed you'll have to ask his criminal boss. Do you have proof who assassinated Seh Daeng (which wasn't in front of any cameras!)?

Yingluk has a lovely smile, but it would be nice if she had some political experience. even some business experience outside of a "family" company where everyone has to kiss her RRs, and nobody is game to point out her mistakes - assuming the "President" of a company makes any decisions. Did you notice the position was abandoned as she left?

Yes, they have a victory, but by making unforfilable promises. I would love to see Yingluk announce that her brother is being repaid, and then try to explain why there isn't enough in the kitty to give them what she promised. Be funny having the red-shirts back in BKK protesting PTPs failures, wouldn't it?

The problem is that with a large voting bloc of uninformed voters if you don't pander to their desires you don't get elected, so responsible management has to be abandoned to stay/get in to power. The result inevitably will be disaster. Maybe you have the ability to leave when it happens, the Thais will have to learn the hard way.