Bangkok: Thailand’s opposition party led by former premier Thakshin Shinawatra’s ‘clone’ sister is set to lead a five-party coalition government, with Yingluck Shinawatra saying her priority would be to put the nation on a path of national reconciliation.
A day after The Pheu Thai party swept the national polls, it announced an accord with four other parties for a coalition. Yingluck, whose party has on itself won a majority of 265 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament, said the agreement would boost her coalition to a strength of 299 seats.
The Democrat Party, which has led a coalition government for more than than three years, will now sit in the opposition.
The other components in the coalition would be Chartthaipattana with 19 seats, Chart Thai Pattana Puea Pandin with and Palang Chon with seven each Mahachon with a single seat.
The 299 MPs should be enough to ensure a solid majority, she said. Yingluck said the most urgent task for her administration would be to forge a national reconciliation in a politically-divided country that witnessed violent clashes last year resulting in the 90 deaths.
Former premier Thakshin, meanwhile, said in Dubai where he lives on self-imposed exile, that he had no intention or desire to return to politics.
“I’ve been with the party too long, and I really want to retire. Actually, I announced when I was in office that I planned to retire when I was 60… I’m 62. It’s long overdue for me,” he said.
Thakshin replied in negative when asked if he wished to be prime minister again.
“Going back (to Thailand) is not necessarily to be going back to politics,” he said. Thakshin has described his younger sister Yingluck, a political novice, as his ‘clone’.
Yingluck also extended support to the Truth for Reconciliation Committee appointed by the Democrats-led government and said an independent working group would be set by the new government.
She also said the new government would be required to restore the economy, rebuild morale and good governance of the bureaucracy, get rid of corruption and assure the public that all political parties are subject to scrutiny, the Bangkok Post said.
Earlier, the outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resigned as leader of his Democrat Party today owning responsibility for the crushing defeat at the hands of the opposition. Yingluck, who led her Pheu Thai (For Thais) party to a resounding victory and is all set to be the country’s first woman prime minister.
“I have decided to resign because I could not lead my party to victory in the elections,” the suave Oxford-educated Abhisit said.
Democrat Party members will now meet to select a new leader. Abhisit, whose government was criticised heavily for a crackdown on pro-Thakshin Red Shirt protesters last year, had assumed office in 2008. (PTI)