'My heart fell' Vascular surgeon Adib Khanafer says he was in shock when he walked into the operating theater and saw a 4-year-old girl who suffered severe gunshot wounds.
Sunday is likely to produce a weak unstable government whether it's a civilian or military-backed party that cobbles together a coalition, setting off a new phase of uncertainty in a country that's a U.S. ally in Southeast Asia and one of the world's top tourist destinations.
"It will be unstable," said Prajak Kongkirati, a political science lecturer at Thammasat University. "Whatever party wins, Prayuth or Thaksin's side, both governments will be weak and unstable," he said. "The government can collapse within a year or a year and a half and we might have a new election quite soon."
Critic say the new military-designed political system is intrinsically unstable because it is not accepted by all sides and will be the beginning of a new round of struggle in Thailand. Sunday's vote is the latest episode in a sometimes violent political struggle that pits Thaksin's political machine against a conservative establishment led by the ultra-royalist military.
On Friday, Thaksin hosted a glittering wedding reception in Hong Kong for his youngest daughter, causing a sensation and substantial media and online coverage in Thailand. Guests included the Thai king's sister Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, who last month made a spectacular but quickly aborted attempt to be a prime ministerial candidate for a small Thaksin-allied party.
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