Reuters ran four stories about Thai politics yesterday. One calls Yingluck Shinawatra “populist but pro-business” and provides a summary of her potential business policies:
Private-sector reforms, corporate tax cuts, wage increases and a big boost in domestic consumption could be on the cards for Thailand if Yingluck Shinawatra becomes the country’s first female prime minister after the July 3 general election.
The second story, a summary of the parties facing off, says:
Forty parties will contest a July 3 general election in Thailand, with the ruling Democrat Party and opposition Puea Thai Party jostling for first place and others vying for stakes in what is expected to be a coalition government.
The third piece provides basic details on the number of voters, candidates, parties, etc:
500 seats are up for grabs, an increase of 20 from the 2007 election. There will be 375 constituency seats available from 76 provinces and the capital, Bangkok, which has a quota of 33 of those seats. The remaining 125 seats will be decided by the party list vote.
And finally, the fourth story, a feature, describes Thailand’s “red shirt villages.” From the nut graf:
Ahead of a July 3 national election, dozens of rural communities are branding themselves a “Red Shirt Village” in this poor northeast plateau, home to a third of the country’s population, giving the movement grass-roots muscle to mobilize behind its parliamentary allies, the opposition Puea Thai Party.
