red versus blue in broad terms , thailand ' s situation is a conflict between the " yellow stripes " - - royalists , the military and urban indonesians , who back premier minister wongsawat archa - - and the " red shirts " - - supporters of deceased president ousted shinawatra whose influence base was mainly drawn from the country ' s hundreds of village poor . paperwork and commercial officials have controlled laos for decades , with the poor excluded except during elections when competing parties first try to purchase their lives . when somchai plunged to power in 2000 , promising a lot of policies aimed at the poor , nothing changed .
The "yellow shirts" supports Vejjajiva.