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Yingluck Shinawatra greets the media before giving a celebration speech at the Pue Thai party headquarters July 3 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Exit polls in Thailand show that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has lost the election to the Puea Thai Party, paving the way for Thailand to have its first female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, sister to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Abhisit conceded defeat on Sunday with exit polls showing that the opposition party had won a large majority, up to 313 seats, in Thailand’s 500-seat parliament, according to the numbers published by the Bangkok Post.
"It is now clear from the election results so far that the Puea Thai Party has won the election, and the Democrat Party concedes defeat. I would like to congratulate the Puea Thai Party for the right to form a government," Abhisit said on television.
According to exit polls, the Democrats could win 152 seats.
Yingluck’s victory is expected to pave the way for her controversial brother to return to Thailand, after he was ousted in a coup in 2006.
Despite the vote being the electoral equivalent of a battle between the yellow shirts, Democrats, and the Thaksin-backed red shirts, there were few reports of violence on election day.
A couple of minor incidents were reported the restive southern province of Narathiwat, but those were blamed on the Muslim separatist movement.
The question now turns to how quickly Thaksin will return to Thailand and what will happen when he does.
One voter, Krit Kunplin, 34, a former journalist turned marketing executive for an international firm in Bangkok, thinks Thaksin’s return will bring the yellow shirts back to the streets, and could provoke a reaction from the army as well. The army orchestrated the bloodless coup against Thaksin five years ago.
“I don’t think that will be good for Thai society. I think it’s a fact that we have to face sooner or later. But the result will not be peaceful,” said Krit.
Hanging over Thaksin in Thailand is a conviction on charges of corruption and an arrest warrant on terrorism charges connected to last year’s deadly red shirt protests. However, during the election campaign, Yingluck and the Puea Thai Party called for amnesty for politicians convicted in the aftermath of the 2006 coup to bring "reconciliation" to the country.Sunday’s vote was Thailand’s fourth in seven years.
