Thailand’s farmers used to rely on ballots, not lottery tickets, to get what they needed. When Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck’s brother, became prime minister in 2001 he aimed to bolster the income of the poor who voted for him. He introduced cheap medical care, accessible rural credit, higher minimum wages and generous price floors for agricultural goods. At one point in his sister’s tenure, a tonne of rice brought in as much as 20,000 baht ($625). It now fetches 8,000 baht, thanks to the fall in global prices and the removal of the government’s price floor. “If the government does not pay more, what can we do?” asks Anong Wannasupring, a farmer.