Retired Congressman, Democrat, Barney Frank, married his gay lover in 2012. Here he shares his view of the the Thai military coup:
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/05/31/b ... ai-regime/
Retired Congressman, Democrat, Barney Frank, married his gay lover in 2012. Here he shares his view of the the Thai military coup:
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/05/31/b ... ai-regime/
In the article, Frank states: " his sister Yingluck Shinawatra took over as party leader and won an equally decisive victory in another fair election.:Originally Posted by Up2U
To put that in context, her party won some 53% of seats in the Thai Parliament with 44.3% of the valid votes cast. So does it represent the majority of Thais, as Franks and other seem to believe?
In the context of Thai election history, it was decisive some called it a landslide(Reuters). Remember there were 40 political parties on the ballot and PTP was able to form a government without partners although other parties did join the coalition.In the article, Frank states: " his sister Yingluck Shinawatra took over as party leader and won an equally decisive victory in another fair election.:
To put that in context, her party won some 53% of seats in the Thai Parliament with 44.3% of the valid votes cast. So does it represent the majority of Thais, as Franks and other seem to believe?
Bearing in mind the efforts of thugs to stop people (presumably buffaloes) casting their votes, it was a landslide.
If it hadn't been, there wouldn't have been a coup. The Suthep mob and their tame generals only took over because there was no way they could win in a fair election.
Looks like Barney copied and pasted from a press release by Thaksin's PR firm in that it ignores his overt corruption.
If Reuters called the result a "landslide," then they used an unusual definition of the term in politics. A rough but widely accepted definition of a landslide election is when the winning candidate beats his opponent or opponents by at least 15 percentage points in a popular vote count. PTP got 44.3% (48.41% proportionally, under the Thai electoral system), and the Democrats got 32.3% (35.15% proportionally), so not a 15 percentage points difference in either case. Another definition is "An overwhelming majority of votes for a political party or candidate." As noted, more than 50% of votes cast went to parties other than PTP.
PTP may have won the most seats - that I do not deny - but my original post was that the number of voters who voted for PTP, even if there were 40 of so parties on the ballot papers, was not a majority of Thais, so I find it difficult to accept claims that the party does represent the majority.
I'm no admirer of The Economist- much too right-wing for my tastes-but I can recommend this article which, correctly, emphasises the "royal" aspects of the coup.
Of course, any Thai daring to mention such unmentionables would very quickly find him/herself in the Bangkok Hilton.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2 ... itary-coup
That was an interesting read.
Yes, Thaksin was corrupt but what Thai politician isn't. Nonpartisan analysis I have read shows the people who removed him and Yingluck from power (Abhisit, Suthep, etc.) were just as corrupt and more so if you can believe the corruption index of the World Bank. Then we have a military junta that itself is corrupt.
http://assassinationthaksin.wordpress.c ... ment-says/
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUST ... 8?irpc=932
Your definition of landslide is applicable to a two party system like in America, think of Reagan vs Mondale, Clinton vs Dole. In a parliamentary election where there are multiple parties and coalitions and alliances the definition is not the same. The Tony Blair victories in 1997 and 2001 were acknowledged "landslides" even though he never beat his opponent with a majority popular vote (43% and 41%)and had less than the magic 15%(13%). If Yingluck went one on one with Abhisit, with her coalition and alliances, it would have been even more of an embarrassment to the Democrats than it already was.
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