PPP government?

Samak's PPP won the Thai election, though they don't have enough seats for an outright majority. Samak has announced that he is ready to form a coalition government alongside three smaller parties, and that two other parties (Chart Thai and Puea Paendin) are also welcome to join the alliance. Chart Thai and Puea Paendin are reportedly considering the offer, and will announce a final decision in the next few days. If they do decide to join, this will leave the Democrats as the only party with any principles.

Before the election, candidates and factions were grouping and regrouping on a daily basis, with seemingly no consideration of ideologies whatsoever. The current PPP coalition would surely not have been possible without millions of baht provided by Thaksin, who is (allegedly!) funding the PPP.

I'm not particularly anti-PPP, only anti-Samak. He supported the massacre of students in October 1976, he is openly corrupt, and he shows arrogant contempt for others. And in a few days he will probably become Prime Minister! Looking on the bright side, at least he will have been democratically elected, and the military coup will have finally ended. Although, as the PPP is basically a reincarnation of TRT, the military may decide to launch a coup all over again. (The current army chief has denied this possibility, but, of course, Sonthi also denied it, right up until the eve of his 2006 coup.)

There are currently several investigations into various shady PPP activities, and their outcomes could potentially lead to the dissolution of the party. Also, numerous PPP candidates are being investigated for vote-buying, and they will lose their seats if they are found guilty. So there is still hope!