The long and difficult political history in Thailand just got even more interesting, with national elections over the weekend ensuring that opposition leader Yingluck Shinawatra of the Puea Thai party will be the country’s next prime minister.

Yingluck, the younger sister of former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a military coup back in 2006, will be Thailand’s first female prime minister. Puea Thai is projected to win 264 of the 500 seats, with 98% of the vote counted, and Yingluck is already discussing working in a coalition with a smaller regional party that would add an extra 55 seats. In comparison, the governing Democrat party secured only 160 seats.

Thaksin still enjoys a large amount of support from the “red-shirts” protesters who paralysed Bangkok last May with violent street demonstrations, and have embraced Yingluck as a new leader.

Charles Richardson wrote in Crikey on Friday that Yingluck’s win would bring “a new and possibly dangerous chapter” to Thailand’s political history. The intensely powerful Thai royal family largely supports the “yellow shirts” (original supporters of current PM Abhist Vejjajiva) who advocated for a ‘none of the above’ vote on the ballot cards as no nominated politicians were deemed worthy of leadership. It was the military who ousted Thaksin originally and as Richardson wrote,

By the standards of the region, Thailand is still a relatively free and open country. The economy is healthy, and the election campaign has been largely peaceful. It does not have the feel of a country on the edge of civil war. But if Yingluck’s lead in the polls is borne out on Sunday, no one knows what happens next.

This Economist article offers some great backgrounder information about the personality of soon-to-be PM Yingluck and her opponent Abhisit:

A fresher face even than the relatively youthful 47-year-old Mr Abhisit, and a woman campaigning in the very male world of Thai politics, she has injected a buzz and excitement into the election. Her seasoned, pragmatic campaign managers have exploited her looks and easy-going nature to the full. She, for her part, has played the perfect candidate by sticking closely to her sound bites and smiling ceaselessly at the camera.

The issue of what to do about her brother Thaksin will be tricky for Yingluck, warns Tim Johnston in the Financial Times:

Her greatest political asset is her relationship to her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who commands the loyalty of millions of Thais despite having been removed in a coup in 2006.

Yet he is also her greatest liability as he inspires a visceral hatred among the Thai establishment, including powerful forces in Bangkok’s palaces, barracks and bureaucracy.

Many commentators acknowledge the double-edged sword of Yingluck’s victory for the future of a peaceful Thailand. As Rachel Harvey writes for the BBC in Bangkok:

The question then is whether this decisive victory for another member of the Shinawatra clan will mark a new start, a chance to leave the vitriol and violence behind. Or could Thailand’s fragile democracy be challenged once again?