After Months of Gridlock, Thailand Appoints a New Government

The new Thai government represents a compromise between erstwhile rivals and the marginalization of the pro-democracy movement, and though it is breaking months of political deadlock, economic recovery will prove challenging. Thailand will form a new government after the bicameral National Assembly elected former property tycoon Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) as prime minister on Aug. 22. Needing a 375-vote simple majority, Srettha secured 482 lawmaker votes, including 152 from the military-appointed Senate. On the same day, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the PTP's founder and de facto leader, returned to Thailand after 15 years of self-exile following his overthrow in a military coup in 2006. With three abuse of power and corruption convictions in absentia, Thaksin was arrested upon his arrival and potentially faces eight years in prison....