AFP has details of what Yingluck said at the Puea Thai press conference yesterday, after the party choose Yingluck to be No. 1 on the Puea Thai party list for the upcoming July 3 election :

“I am ready to fight according to the rules and I ask for the opportunity to prove myself. I ask for your trust as you used to trust my brother,” she told a party meeting in Bangkok, attended by reporters.

“I will utilise my femininity to work fully for our country.”
…
“Five years after the coup there are a lot of people still missing my brother and his policies. I feel my family is indebted to the people and that’s a key factor in my decision,” she said.

AP has some commentary:

Thailand’s main opposition party on Monday nominated the sister of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as its candidate for the top post in upcoming elections, a decision likely to inflame tensions in the country’s highly polarized politics.


… has little political experience and is seen as a stand-in for Thaksin. She would likely become Thailand’s first female prime minister if the opposition Pheu Thai Party wins the July 3 polls, which are expected to be close.
…
Yingluck said it was too early to talk about bringing Thaksin back to Thailand, but that the coup that ousted her brother played a part in drawing her into politics.

Reuters:

Yingluck could alienate the party from swing voters fearful that the return of a government controlled by Thaksin — a fugitive tycoon convicted of graft and charged with terrorism — would be deeply opposed by his powerful enemies, leading to more protests or even another coup.

However, she could prove to be instrumental in uniting a party in disarray and boosting its support by winning over the rural poor who were wooed by Thaksin’s populist policies.

“It’s a bold move, but given the power of the Shinawatra brand in Thai politics, it’s a pretty good move,” said Andrew Walker, an expert on Thai politics at the Australia National University.

“It’s a risk, but Puea Thai see that it’s outweighed by Thaksin’s galvanising appeal and the affection that exists among the electorate for him and his policies. What the Democrats and their allies most fear is an electoral runoff with Thaksin.”

Yingluck, who was educated in the United States and keeps a low profile, has had no official role in Thai politics. She will be regarded as a proxy for Thaksin if she is voted into office and would become Thailand’s first female prime minister.

DPA:

‘My father was a politician, and so were my brothers, so I’ve known about politics since I was a kid,‘ Yingluck told her first press conference, when her political credentials were questioned.
…

‘We don’t know how strongly the people who oppose Thaksin will oppose her, since she is Thaksin’s sister,‘ said Chaturon Chaisaeng, a veteran Thai politician and advisor to the Pheu Thai Party. ‘We don’t know what the elite will think.’

Her appointment as the prime minister candidate, over many veteran politicians, has also made it clear what the party stands for.

‘It’s a party for Thaksin’s interests. There is nothing that can make it more obvious,’ said Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of the Democrat Party, Pheu Thai’s main rival.

Al Jazeera:

“All the parties have to turn to each other and know that Puea Thai is not here for revenge but to solve [Thailand's] problems,” she said in a speech on Monday to Puea Thai members, who voted overwhelmingly in her favour.

“People still think of my brother and his policies of the past and many still have had mercy for our family until today,” she said, adding that seeking Thaksin’s return from exile a free man was “not the priority”.

Bloomberg:

“I will do my best as I want to see reconciliation,” Yingluck, the youngest of Thaksin’s nine siblings, said today in Bangkok. “I want our nation to move forward. I will play by the rules. I hope all parties will give me a chance.”

…

“Everybody knows that she’s not a seasoned politician,” said Kiat Sittheeamorn, Thailand’s trade representative and a member of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s party. “It will be difficult not to imagine that many people would understand that she’s also acting on behalf of someone else.”

From 2002 to 2006, Yingluck served as president of Advanced Info Service Pcl (ADVANC), a mobile-phone company founded by Thaksin that is now Thailand’s biggest.

She stepped down in 2006 shortly after Thaksin’s family sold its stake in holding company Shin Corp. to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte for 73 billion baht ($2.4 billion), a deal that netted Yingluck 985 million baht and fueled protests that led to Thaksin’s overthrow in a coup later that year.

Since then, Yingluck has been president of Bangkok-based property developer SC Asset Corp., controlled by Thaksin’s children. Pintongta Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, was appointed to SC Asset’s board on May 12, the company said in a regulatory filing.

In Yingluck’s time running the company, SC Asset shares have risen 101 percent, compared with a 45 percent increase in Thailand’s benchmark SET Index. The SET has gained 41 percent in the past 12 months, the best performance among Asia’s 15 biggest markets.

BP: Not sure the date that Bloomberg – appears to be early 2006 – see below for more…

WSJ:

“Give me a chance to prove my worth, just as you gave your trust to my brother,” Ms. Yingluck told top party leaders after they endorsed her as their standard-bearer. She later told reporters that running for the premiership was her way of “giving back to the country.”

…

Ms. Yingluck’s nomination to be For Thais’s candidate for prime minister, meanwhile, appears designed to appeal to poorer Thais who previously voted for Mr. Thaksin and his populist policies. From his self-exile in Dubai, the former telecommunications billionaire is promoting a combination of tax cuts and large salary increases to strengthen Thailand’s domestic economy and reduce its dependence on fragile export markets if the For Thais party wins.

The party already is campaigning on a slogan of “Thaksin Thinks, For Thais Acts.”

The Bangkok Post:

Ms Yingluck was born on June 21, 1967. She is the last of nine children of Mr Lert and Mrs Yindee Shinawatra.

She is the wife of Anusorn Amornchat, managing-director of M Link Asia Corporation, but they have not registered their marriage. They have one son, Supasek.

She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University, in 1988 and earned a master’s in political science from Kentucky State University, in the United States, in 1990. Later, she worked at Shinawatra Directories Co., Ltd. and was assigned as Managing Director of AIS in 2002.

BP: Kentucky State University is no Oxford although it was rated as one of the “Best Southeastern Colleges” by Princeton Review. See also the US News Report report. It was “historically [a] black liberal studies public institution”, but after desegregation this has reduced to just more than half of the student body being African-American today (Wikipedia).  Also, less than 2% of students are international students – no doubt it was even less than this back in the lates 80s. Having said that the city the university is based in is 81% white and is based in the state capital of Kentucky. That would have been an interesting place to study…

The Nation:

“I would like to thank the Pheu Thai members for valuing and trusting me. I’ll be ready to carry out this duty. But I would like all sides to turn to cooperate and stop harboring grudge,” Yingluck said.

Being No-1 party-list candidate of the Pheu Thai, Yingluck is seen as the direct challenger for the post of prime minister against incumbent PM Abhisit Vejjajiva.

“I am not revengeful but I want to fix the situation. Don’t worry that I am a woman. I’ll use my womanhood to lead the country to reconciliation. I’ll fight along side with the Pheu Thai members until we become the government.

“I work to revive the economy and tackle the economic hardship of the people. I’ll reform the justice system and I’ll seek the premiership via the rules. I would like to ask Pheu Thai members to give me a chance like what you gave to Thaksin,” Yingluck said.

Puea Thai have uploaded Yingluck’s press conference including the Q&A to YouTube and it is available from here. This includes her answering questions from the foreign press at 7:45-8:35 & 10:13-12:46, Associated Press, Nirmal Ghosh of the Straits Times, a Japanese reporter, and Wayne Hay of Al Jazeera respectively.

BP: On the press conference, she sounded very conciliatory and moderate in her speech. It was clear from what she said and also how she interacted with the Thai press, she won’t be engaging in Samak-like arguments with the press. She was very scripted and confident in what she saying. She clearly delivered a few lines. Part of the intro was to see that she was from upcountry (เด็กต่างจังหวัด). Then, that was she was not seeking revenge, but to solve problems (ไม่คิดแก้แค้นแต่จะแก้ไข – it sounds more of a line in Thai because revenge and solve both start from the same root word of แก้)*. Both lines are likely to be delivered in the future.

Her English was reasonable and she could string together some soundbites. Again, she seemed very confident in answering the questions (i.e if you didn’t know what she was saying, you would think she spoke flawless English given her confidence) and didn’t hesitate in her answers although the actual content was not that smooth and she seemed to be grasping for the right words in English particularly in the political sphere e.g she used the word customer and not voter at one point (although BP thought this was funny)…

Some comments below on Yingluck.

1.  One of Yingkluck’s draws is that she is a reasonably successful businesswoman. According to Bloomberg, SC Asset’s share price from September 19, 2006 until May 16, 2011 has gone up from 4.05 to 13.3 (328%) over the same period of time the SET has gone up from 706.59 to 1,084.96 (154%). This comes during a period of time after the coup when it has not been that favorable to be a Shinawatra compared to the pre-Thaksin era. No doubt Yingluck will be talking up her business experience and that she understands the Thai economy. Of course, she will need to find a way to untangle her business assets when she is in parliament – one assumes no rich maids this time around – and this could be very messy if it is not handled well.

2. Yingluck reinforces the view that Puea Thai=Thaksin, but then again if you hate Thaksin you were never going to vote for Puea Thai anyway. Yingluck can help Puea Thai in Thaksin strongholds in the Upper North and Upper Northeast to consolidate the Puea Thai vote. However, if you are uncomfortable with the Puea Thai=Thaksin connection and an independent voter dissatisfied with the government then Yingluck taking over doesn’t help.

3. Yingluck can present a modern image. Tulsie sums this third point up in his op-ed by stating “As an attractive and successful young woman, she would sex up its campaign and blunt the ruling Democrat Party’s advantage of having the Oxford-graduate, handsome Abhisit as the title-holder”. Looks and image matter in politics and it affects how people will vote. The Democrats do much better with females voters since Abhisit has taken over and BP wonders whether the same thing will happen for male voters for Puea Thai.

Conversely, Yingluck could potentially be Thailand’s first female Prime Minister so for some female voters the choice of Yingluck is a positive. Thailand has few very females in high profile positions so Puea Thai will likely refer to this, but also “feminine qualities” which Yingluck referred to that she could bring to the job today when talking about reconciliation. This factor is unlikely to be as big of an issue as it would be in western countries, but BP thinks it will be interesting to watch how it plays out. The Democrats may have problems attacking and not wanting to sound too harsh when going after a female politician – one Democrat MP mentioned her unmarried status in relation to assets and was later admonished by Suthep over this who said the Democrats will not attack her on personal issues (Thai Rath).

4. Yingluck was confident in her opening speech, but we still haven’t seen how she will perform on the campaign trail when she does a meet-and-greet with voters (i.e retail politics) and speaks to crowds at a political rally. Can she connect with voters? How will she perform in answering policy questions from reporters? How about personal questions? She doesn’t seem as abrasive as Thaksin either.

Overall, BP thinks that the Puea Thai leader choice is not a decisive factor. Abhisit is more popular than the Democrats and hence Abhisit is an important draw, but the Puea Thai leader won’t be as popular as the party. Nevertheless, at the moment, she is a bit of an unknown whereas Abhisit is a known quantity. Puea Thai has chosen her as the alternative Prime Minister and how she performs on the campaign trail will be closely watched by voters and it will likely be a relevant factor on how a number of undecided voters will vote.

*added “- it sounds more of a line in Thai because revenge and solve both start from the same root word of แก้”