Thailand’s House of Representatives on Friday elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra (Bangkok) as prime minister, who at 37 years old becomes the youngest in the country’s history. With two-thirds of the votes in Parliament, she takes office after her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, from her same party, the Phue Thai – which leads a coalition of 11 parties – was dismissed by the Constitutional Court two days ago for violating the ethical code in the appointment of a minister convicted of bribery attempts. The new head of government is the youngest of the three children of the most influential politician in Thailand and multimillionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, who spent 15 years in exile as a way of avoiding going to prison for various corruption cases.
Paetongtarn has received 319 votes out of the 493 deputies in the current House. The opposition People’s Party, founded after the judicial dissolution a week ago of the progressive Move Forward, voted against in a session that received 145 no votes and 27 abstentions (two deputies did not attend the session). With this overwhelming result, she has become the second woman to become head of the country’s government. In a press conference, she has assured that her cabinet will have a strong and experienced team, and that her father had already congratulated her.
With little political experience, she graduated in political science in 2008 and completed a master’s degree in hotel management in England. Paetongtarn was one of the new faces of her party during the 2023 election campaign, which was won by the opposition Advance (now dissolved), but was unable to form a government. The Phue Thai, which lost its majority for the first time in two decades, allied itself with the formations that had been its rivals to seize power; the now prime minister did not sit in the legislature and until now served as director of the National Committee for the Development of Soft Power, which seeks to extend Thai cultural influence. In addition, she is the largest shareholder of SC Asset Corporation, a real estate company, and director of the Thaicom Foundation, started by her father.
Paetongtarn’s choice is a “risky tactic,” Nattabhorn Buamahakul of consultancy Vero Advocacy told Reuters. “It puts Thaksin’s daughter in the spotlight and in a vulnerable position.” With her rise, the influential Shinawatra family has put one of its members at the head of the country for the third time. Her father, tycoon and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, governed between 2001 and 2006, when he was ousted by a military coup; and her aunt, Yingluck, was removed from office in 2014 by the Constitutional Court, days before another military uprising. With several cases pending against him, the tycoon, former owner of Manchester City, went into exile for 15 years in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Dubai, to avoid jail. He returned in August 2023, the same day as the investiture session in which his party took over the government.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while leading the country, cases related to his telecommunications businesses, thanks to which he amassed his fortune. The sentence was reduced to one year with a royal pardon and, without setting foot in jail for a single day, after spending six months in the General Police Hospital, he was granted conditional release.
Paetongtarn’s appointment is the latest episode in a tumultuous August in Thai politics. In just over a week, the courts have dissolved the main opposition party, Advance, for its attempts to reform the laws that protect the all-powerful royal family from criticism. The leaders have founded a new progressive party, the People’s Party (Prachachon in Thai), which will keep the distinctive orange colour of its predecessor.
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The Constitutional Court also dismissed the prime minister on Wednesday. Analysts say the new prime minister will face challenges on multiple fronts, with the economy faltering, competition from a rival party on the rise and the popularity of Pheu Thai on the decline, which has yet to deliver on its flagship cash distribution programme worth 500 billion baht (13 billion euros).
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