Yingluck Shinawatra, whose party convincingly won Thailand’s elections at the weekend, has consolidated her grip on power, announcing a coalition that will control almost 60 per cent of the lower house.
Flanked by the leaders of the five-party coalition, Ms Yingluck appeared at her first news conference as prime minister designate on Monday to announce the pact. With more than 90 per cent of the votes counted, the Electoral Commission forecasts that Ms Yingluck’s Puea Thai party will hold 265 of the 500 seats in the lower house. With the four other parties, she is likely to be able to command 299 seats.
Ms Yingluck said the coalition would have “enough stability” to run the government. Despite misgivings a few weeks ago when Puea Thai started to rise in the polls, markets welcomed its victory, with the SET index up 4.8 per cent on Monday.