Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former PM Thaksin elected as Thailand’s next Prime Minister

Thailand’s Parliament on Friday voted for Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become the country’s 31st Prime Minister, reported Channel News Asia.

Paetongtarn, 37, the daughter of the country’s billionaire tycoon and former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra will succeed Srettha Thavisin, who was removed from office by the country’s constitutional court on August 14 in an ethics case.

The country’s Pheu Thai party on Thursday nominated Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister candidate.

Paetongtarn has become the fourth member of the Shinawatra family to become Thailand’s prime minister, following Thaksin Shinawatra, Somchai Wongsawat (Thaksin’s brother-in-law), and Yingluck Shinawatra, the Bangkok Post said.

319 MPs voted for Pheu Thai party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become Thailand’s new prime minister on Friday. 145 voted against and 27 abstained.

Srettha, a real estate mogul, became the fourth Thai prime minister in the past 16 years to be ousted by the court, which found that he breached the constitution by choosing a minister who did not meet ethical standards.

His dismissal, after less than a year in office, means that parliament will need to meet to select a new prime minister, raising the possibility of increased uncertainty in a country plagued by coups and judicial decisions that have repeatedly toppled governments and political parties over the past two decades.

Just last week, the same court dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward Party (MFP), a popular opposition group, ruling that its efforts to reform a law against insulting the monarchy threatened the constitutional monarchy. The MFP reformed under a new name on Friday, CNA reported.

Srettha’s Pheu Thai Party, along with its predecessors, has been at the centre of Thailand’s political turmoil, with two of its administrations removed by coups in an ongoing conflict between the party’s founders, the Shinawatra family, and their conservative and royalist military opponents.

Political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra’s return from 15 years in exile in 2023 on the same day that Srettha ascended to the country’s premiership.

Srettha defended his appointment of former Shinawatra lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court in 2008 over an alleged bribery attempt, arguing that it was legitimate. The bribery claim was never substantiated, and Pichit resigned in May, reported CNA.

Paetongtarn helped run the hotel arm of the family’s business empire before entering politics three years ago and has never held elected office, Al Jazeera said.

She was a near-constant presence on the campaign trail in the 2023 elections when she was one of Pheu Thai’s prime minister candidates, giving birth just two weeks before polling day.