Impeachment grasps global attention
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Thai National Legislative Assembly's vote to impeach former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra grasped headlines in global media Friday.
Here is what they said about the impacts of this decision on the Thai politics.
The New York Times: Dormant political tensions re-emerged in Thailand on Friday when the military junta’s handpicked assembly impeached the country’s former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Wall Street Journal: Her ban from seeking election sidelines her from a political role, not to mention the prospect of prison, and could infuriate her supporters who have largely kept a low profile since martial law was imposed, analysts and risk consultants say, hardening the fault lines between Thailand’s former civilian populist leaders and its ruling conservative armed forces.
Time: Following Friday’s vote, analysts say the political persecution of Yingluck and her supporters will likely calcify the ever widening divide in the country between the rural and working-class masses, who largely back the populist Shinawatra political machine, and the royalist establishment based in Bangkok.
The Straits Times: Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was banned from politics for five years on Friday as the military government announced plans to press criminal charges against her, further dimming chances of reconciliation in the politically riven country.
CNN: Though the vote was largely symbolic, as she had already lost her post, it also carries a five-year ban from politics.
BBC: The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the impeachment sends a strong signal that there will be no compromise and her family will be removed from politics.
