The elder sister of Thailand’s king has agreed to contest national elections next month as a candidate for prime minister, reorienting the country’s political map and bringing a prominent member of the royal family directly into a modern election campaign for the first time. The opposition Thai Raksa Chart Party’s move to select 67-year-old Princess Ubolratana caught many Thais by surprise. It aligns the princess, and by extension the royal family, with the populist political movement led by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,...

Source: Wall Street Journal February 08, 2019 05:38 UTC