Bangkok: Paetongtarn Shinawatra has become Thailand’s youngest prime minister following her nomination by the ruling coalition of the Pheu Thai party.
She takes over from Srettha Thavisin, who was ousted by a constitutional court ruling on Wednesday.
At 37, known affectionately as Ung Ing, Paetongtarn is the youngest of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra’s children and the third family member, following her father and aunt, to assume the country’s highest office.
Srettha’s ousting is the most recent event in the ongoing conflict between the military, the pro-royalist establishment, and the populist factions associated with Thaksin, who revolutionized Thailand’s conventional politics with his election as prime minister in 2001.
After a military coup forced him out in 2006, Thaksin spent years in exile, returning to Thailand last year, coinciding with the Pheu Thai’s government formation.
The ruling coalition unanimously selected Paetongtarn as the successor in a meeting on Thursday night, with no other coalition parties proposing a candidate.
With 314 seats held by Pheu Thai and its allies in parliament, Paetongtarn required over half of the 493 lawmakers’ votes to secure the prime ministership.
Before her political career, Paetongtarn managed the hotel sector of her family’s business empire and had not held an elected position. She was prominently active in the 2023 election campaign as one of Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial hopefuls, even giving birth just two weeks before the election.
The Move Forward Party (MFP), a reformist group, secured the majority of seats in parliament but was prevented from forming a government by the Senate, which was then appointed by the military and had the power to veto prime ministerial nominations.
Additionally, last week, the constitutional court ruled to disband the MFP and prohibit its executive board members from engaging in politics for a decade due to their pledge to revise the stringent royal defamation laws.
