Walls close in on Thailand鈥檚 Yingluck
Thailand鈥檚 anticorruption body announced Tuesday that it will file charges against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra related to a troubled rice-subsidy scheme. As the long arm of the law reached to the top of the Thai government, long-running street protests grew more violent with the death of four people in gun and grenade clashes.
It was a bad day for Ms. Yingluck, whose days are looking numbered.
鈥淭his indictment is a really serious turn of events for Yingluck,鈥� says our correspondent in Bangkok. 鈥淭he rice scheme is the slow-burning element to this political crisis, which wasn鈥檛 immediately interesting or headline grabbing, but has been showing over time to be maybe her biggest undoing.鈥�
The failed scheme has turned some farmers 鈥� normally Yingluck鈥檚 core supporters 鈥� into some of the most hard-core opponents of the regime, our correspondent adds. 鈥淚t has also provided the judiciary [and] some of these government bodies a solid reason to go after her under the law.鈥� For more on the particulars of the rice scheme, .
Yingluck鈥檚 party supporters, so-called Red Shirts, have promised to protest nationwide if her government falls. Analysts tell our correspondent that the next government in that scenario would be some form of committee, which would try to pass various election reforms. But the committee may not be able... For the rest of the story, continue reading at our new business publication聽
