{"id":9819,"date":"2011-08-01T02:08:05","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T02:08:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-08-01T02:08:05","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T02:08:05","slug":"Thailand-to-open-new-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9819","title":{"rendered":"Thailand to open new parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thailand’s new parliament is officially open today, faced with the daunting challenge of bringing stability to the kingdom after five years of political turmoil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will preside over the opening ceremony in the capital Bangkok in the late afternoon, the palace has said, allowing the 500-seat lower house chamber to set to work later in the week.<\/p>\n

Within days, MPs are expected to vote in the country’s first female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra of the Puea Thai party, which on July 3 won a crushing electoral victory to take power from the pro-establishment Democrats.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yingluck will take to the helm almost five years after her brother<\/strong>, the deeply divisive Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted as premier in a military coup. He now lives abroad to escape a jail term for corruption.<\/p>\n

Thai academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun said Yingluck, who is widely seen as a proxy for her brother, had shown surprising charisma since her electoral success and could become “a very capable prime minister”.<\/p>\n

But he said the challenges facing the premier-in-waiting, a political novice, are formidable.<\/p>\n

“I think the honeymoon period of Yingluck will be very short. She has so many obstacles in front of her,” said Pavin, of Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.<\/p>\n

Thailand’s political landscape became increasingly polarized following the 2006 coup, with other Thaksin allies removed from power by the courts and paralysing rallies by both pro- and anti-Thaksin camps.<\/p>\n

They culminated in mass demonstrations by his “Red Shirt” followers in Bangkok last April and May, which ended with a military assault and more than 90 people dead. Thaksin is wanted on terrorism charges linked to the unrest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Economic concerns have also been raised over the potential impact of Yingluck’s vote-grabbing promises, such as a hike in the minimum wage that the Bank of Thailand<\/strong> has warned could stoke inflation.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Election Commission endorsed dozens of winning candidates from the national polls, bringing the total approved to 496<\/strong> – passing the 95 percent threshold needed by law for parliament to convene.<\/p>\n

Yingluck has formed a six-party coalition that will hold about three-fifths of the seats in the lower chamber<\/strong>, where MPs’ first task will be to elect a house speaker.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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