Thai parliament elects Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn as new prime minister

Thailand’s parliament has chosen Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of billionaire tycoon and former leader Thaksin, as prime minister.

At 37, she will be the country’s youngest prime minister and the second woman to hold the post, after her aunt Yingluck.

Her selection comes just two days after former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was removed from office by the Constitutional Court. Both are from the Pheu Thai Party, which came second in the 2023 election but has formed a governing coalition.

Ms Paetongtarn faces the daunting task of reviving Thailand’s stagnant economy and avoiding the military coups and court intervention that have toppled four previous administrations led by her party.

“I really hope that I can make people feel confident that we can build opportunities, improve the quality of life and empower all Thai people,” Ms Paetongtarn told reporters after the vote on Friday.

She was clearly overwhelmed, saying her hands were shaking with excitement.

She admits that she is “not the best, nor the most talented person in the room.”

“But I always thought I had a strong will and I had a good team… My team is strong, experienced, determined and we share the same ideas. That’s something I value a lot,” she said.

Ms Paetongtarn, who received 319 votes in favour and 145 against, is the fourth member of the Shinawatra clan to become prime minister in the past two decades.

The other three, including her father Thaksin and Ms Yingluck, were ousted by military coups or constitutional court rulings.

The court also dismissed Mr Thavisin on Wednesday for appointing a jailed former lawyer to his cabinet.

On Friday, Ms Paetongtarn said she was “confused” and “very sad” to hear of Mr Srettha’s dismissal.

She said after talking to him and his family, she decided “it was time to do something for the party and the country”.

She added that Mr Thaksin had called to encourage her to “do her best” and said he was happy to still be able to see her take on the job in his old age.

Educated at prestigious schools in Thailand and universities in the UK, she spent several years working at the Shinawatra family’s Rende hotel group, where her husband was deputy chief investment officer.

She joined the Pheu Thai party in 2021 and was appointed party leader in October 2023.

The appointment of Ms Paetongtarn brings new energy to Thailand’s top leadership. Pheu Thai members may also hope that she can help restore the party’s political fortunes.

Mr Thaksin first became prime minister in 2001, but his second term ended abruptly after his government was overthrown by a military coup in 2006. returned to Thailand after 15 years of exile in October last year, hours before Mr Srettha was elected prime minister.

He was allowed to return as part of a grand deal with his old conservative enemies, who are now allied with the Pheu Thai party.

In June, he was charged with insulting the monarchyHe is the highest-ranking figure to face charges under Thailand’s notorious lese majeste laws, used against dissidents.

The decision to sack Mr Srettha on Wednesday was also widely interpreted as a warning to Mr Thaksin, who still dominates the Pheu Thai party, to curb his ambitions.

Mr Thaksin’s sister, Ms Yingluck, won a landslide election victory in 2011, but she was later disqualified by the courts and her government was overthrown in a second coup. She now lives in exile.

Ms Paetongtarn led the Pheu Thai party’s campaign in last year’s election while she was in the final stages of pregnancy, which won her much admiration.

“I think after eight years, people want better politics, better solutions for the country, not just a coup,” she told the BBC at the time. “They are looking for policies that will help their lives.”

The election-winning party, Move Forward, was blocked from forming a government by the military-appointed senate – paving the way for a Pheu Thai-led coalition with Mr Srettha as prime minister.

Earlier this month, constitutional court dissolved Go ahead and banned 11 of the party’s leaders from politics for a decade.