Sister of exiled former PM to be next leader of Thailand

Thailand's opposition won a landslide election victory yesterday, led by the sister of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a triumph for red-shirt protesters who clashed with the army last year.

Exit polls showed Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai (For Thais) party winning a clear majority of parliament's 500 seats, paving the way for the 44-year-old business executive to become Thailand's first woman prime minister.

"I'll do my best and will not disappoint you," she told supporters after receiving a call of congratulations from her billionaire brother, who fell from power in a 2006 coup and lives in Dubai to avoid jail over corruption charges that he says are politically motivated.

"He told me that there is still much hard work ahead of us," she added.

With nearly all votes counted, Puea Thai won a projected 261 seats with prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party taking 162, according to the Election Commission.

Mr Abhisit conceded defeat. "I would like to congratulate the Puea Thai party for the right to form a government," he said.

Exit polls by Bangkok's Suan Dusit University showed Puea Thai doing even better, winning 313 seats compared to just 152 for the Democrats, dismal enough to threaten Mr Abhisit's job as party leader.

Ms Yingluck's supporters were jubilant, erupting in roars and cheers as television broadcast the exit polls.

"Number one Yingluck," some shouted. "Prime Minister Yingluck" screamed others, as party members slapped each other on the back.

"Yingluck has helped us and now Puea Thai can solve our problems and they'll solve the country's problems," said Saiksa Chankerd, a 40-year-old government worker.

The results were a rebuke of the traditional establishment of generals, old-money families and royal advisers in Bangkok who loathed Mr Thaksin and backed Mr Abhisit, an Oxford-trained economist who struggled to find a common touch.

The size of Puea Thai's victory could usher in much-needed political stability after six years of unrest.

"Chances of blocking Puea Thai in the near term are severely limited," said Roberto Herrera-Lim, Southeast Asian analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. "The instability everyone has been worried about now looks less likely. The military will have to be pragmatic now."

Ms Yingluck was feted like a rock star by the red shirts who designated entire communities in Thailand's rugged, vote-rich north-east plateau as "red shirt villages" to help mobilise supporters, each festooned with red flags and Thaksin posters.

Mr Thaksin said he would "wait for the right moment" to come home."If my return is going to cause problems, then I will not do it yet. I should be a solution, not a problem," he told reporters in Dubai.

Mr Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon, scored landslide election wins in 2001 and 2005 and is seen by the poor as the first politician to address the needs of millions living beyond Bangkok's bright lights. Ms Yingluck electrified his supporters, ran a disciplined campaign and promised Thaksin-style populist policies, including a big rise in the national minimum wage and free tablet PCs for nearly one million schoolchildren.

Mr Abhisit had warned of instability if Ms Yingluck won. His backers still want Mr Thaksin to serve a two-year prison term.

They dismiss Ms Yingluck as a simple proxy for her brother.

The election is Thailand's 26th since it became a democracy in 1932, ending seven centuries of absolute monarchy.

Since then, it has seen 18 military coups or coup attempts.