THAILAND’S PARLIAMENT HAS elected the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, elevating a third member of the influential but divisive clan to the nation’s top job.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father and aunt have served as premier, is the youngest leader in Thailand’s history as a constitutional monarchy.
She becomes the kingdom’s second female prime minister, after her aunt, in a vote forced after the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked previous premier Srettha Thavisin for appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
Srettha’s ouster on Wednesday was the latest round in a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and populist parties linked to Paetongtarn’s father, a telecoms tycoon and one-time Manchester City football club owner.
Thaksin Shinawatra was the first Thai politician to win an overall majority of seats. One of Thailand’s most popular but divisive political figures, he was ousted by a military coup in 2006.
He is widely seen as a de facto leader of Pheu Thai, the latest in a string of parties linked to him. His residual popularity and influence is a factor behind the political support for Paetongtarn.
When Paetongtarn was on the campaign trail for Pheu Thai, she acknowledged her family ties but insisted she was not just her father’s proxy.
“It’s not the shadow of my dad. I am my dad’s daughter, always and forever, but I have my own decisions,” she said.
“Thaksin was a political force to reckon with, but he was also a liability.
“He has a tendency to overplay his political hand, so serving in his shadow has never been easy.”
Paetongtarn’s nomination followed the removal of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday after less than a year in office.
The Constitutional Court found him guilty of a serious ethical breach regarding his appointment of a Cabinet member who was jailed in connection with an alleged bribery attempt.
It was the second major ruling in a week to shake Thai politics.
The same court last week dissolved the progressive Move Forward party, which won last year’s general election but was blocked from taking power. The party has already regrouped as the People’s Party.
Pheu Thai and its predecessors had won all national elections since 2001, with core populist policies pledging to solve economic problems and bridge income equality, until it lost to the reformist Move Forward in 2023.
It, however, was given a chance to form a government after Move Forward was blocked from taking power by the previous Senate, a military-appointed body.
Move Forward was excluded from the coalition by Pheu Thai, which went on to join hands with parties affiliated with the military government that ousted it in a coup.
The move drew criticism from some of its supporters but party officials say it was necessary to break the deadlock and start reconciliation after decades of deep political divisions.
Thaksin returned to Thailand last year after years in exile in what was interpreted as part of a political bargain between Pheu Thai and their long-standing rivals in the conservative establishment to stop the Move Forward Party from forming a government.
With reporting by AFP and Eoghan Dalton
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say