This isn't exactly breaking news, but it hasn't been diaried yet that I can see. Over the July 4 weekend, there was a huge victory for democracy, a huge victory for left-wing populism in Southeast Asia's second largest economy of Thailand.
BANGKOK —The party of the fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won an overwhelming victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday that could turn Thai politics on its head and roll back the results of a coup that ousted Mr. Thaksin almost five years ago.
Background: In 2001, Thaksin Shinawatra was elected President of Thailand in one of the most open, corruption-free elections in Thai history. The country was still reeling from the Asian Financial crisis. Thaksin set himself up as a champion of the rural poor, particularly in the country's long marginalized north where people never before had a voice or felt like they could influence politics.
