Thaksin's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, set to be youngest Thai PM

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, received the necessary votes to become Thailand's newest, and youngest, PM on Aug. 16.

On maneuvers

Paetongtarn was voted into the office by Thailand's lower house.

She needed more than half of the votes of 493 lawmakers to become PM.

Her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was removed from the post by Thailand's constitutional court for an ethics breach, due to his appointing former lawyer Pichit Chuenban to cabinet.

The Thai constitutional court ruled that Chuenban, who had served six months of jail on a bribery charge, breached ethical standards, and removed Srettha on Aug. 14.

On Aug. 15, Srettha's Pheu Thai Party nominated Paetongtarn to replace him.

Doing their best

Upon accepting the nomination, Paetongtarn said that she would do her best to bring Thailand out of its current economic crisis.

She appears to have been able to keep her party's coalition, which includes parties that backed the previous military friendly government,  intact despite the rulings of the constitutional court.

Paetongtarn is the third member of the Shinawatra family to become PM, after her father and her aunt were both ousted in 2006 and 2014 respectively, both times by the military.

Thaksin went into exile in 2008, only return to Thailand after 15 years in 2023.

He was arrested upon his return but later had his an eight-year-jail sentence commuted to one year just over 11 months ago in September 2023.

People's Party

One group she did not get the support of was that of the People's Party, which is formed by members of parliament from the now defunct Move Forward Party.

The MFP was dissolved by the same court that ousted Srettha. It also banned the MFP's former leader Pita Limjaroenrat from politics for 10 years.

Pita and the MFP won the most number of seats in Thailand's 2023 general election, but was ultimately prevented from forming a government as it could not convince enough upper house members, who were appointed by Thailand's military government, to back it.

The People's Party's new leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, was reported by the Bangkok Post as saying that the party would continue in opposition, and would not back the current coalition led by Pheu Thai.

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Top image via ingshin21/Instagram