The decisive (victory) by Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party was "a very strong punch in the gut" to Thailand's ruling elite and will in fact lend the country some stability for now, said one political observer of Thailand.
The new reality for Thailand is that Yingluck's (brother) Thaksin, the former prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup, remains extremely popular, and that fighting the electoral will would be dangerous, said Roberto Herrera-Lim, a director at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm.
In a strong message to those who would consider (being a turncoat) to Yingluck's party, former Thaksin supporters who had defected in 2007 and enabled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's rise to prime minister lost in Sunday elections, Herrera-Lim pointed out.
The ensuing months will also be a time for the( military )to reassess strategy, to assess whether the pro-Yingluck sentiment is a temporary development or not, he added.
Yingluck's priority in the coming days will be to build a secure coalition -- increasing its number of seats in the lower chamber of parliament from the more than 260 it won to about 300 -- and then identify Cabinet ministers and form the next parliament, Herrera-Lim said.
