Thai lawmakers vote Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra to be next PM

BANGKOK: Thai lawmakers on Friday (Aug 16) elected the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, elevating a third member of the influential but divisive clan to the nation’s top job.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father and aunt have served as prime minister, has become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra to hold the top post, and is the youngest leader in country’s history as a constitutional monarchy.
She passed the required threshold of 51 per cent of votes and now faces a baptism of fire, just two days after the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked previous prime minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing a Cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
His ouster was the latest round in a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and populist parties linked to Paetongtarn’s father, a telecoms tycoon and one-time Manchester City owner.
Paetongtarn said she was “honoured and happy” to become Thailand’s youngest prime minister.
“I really hope that I can make people feel confident. I hope to improve the quality of lives and empower all Thais,” she said after the vote.
She added at a press conference that Thaksin had called to congratulate her and was very happy. 
The Pheu Thai Party selected Paetongtarn as its replacement candidate on Thursday. None of the 10 other parties in the coalition it leads put forward an alternative.
Bhumjaithai – the third-largest party in parliament – said it had “agreed to support a candidate” from Pheu Thai in Friday’s vote.
Paetongtarn won with 319 votes, or nearly two-thirds of the house. She was not present in parliament and watched the vote from Pheu Thai’s headquarters.
Her first public comment on the win was posting a picture of her lunch – chicken rice – on Instagram with the caption: “The first meal after listening to the vote.”
Paetongtarn, who has never held an elected government position, will immediately face challenges on multiple fronts. Thailand’s economy is floundering and the popularity of her Pheu Thai Party has dwindled, having yet to deliver on its flagship cash handout programme worth 500 billion baht (US$14.25 billion).
Paetongtarn entered politics in late 2022 after helping to run the hotel arm of her family’s business empire. 
In the May 2023 election, the upstart progressive Move Forward Party won most seats after pledging to review the country’s strict lese-majeste laws and break up powerful business monopolies.
But alarmed senators blocked the party’s attempt to form a government.
Pheu Thai subsequently formed an alliance with pro-military parties once staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his followers, leading to Srettha’s ascension.
The fall of Srettha after less than a year in office will be a stark reminder of the kind of hostility Paetongtarn could face, with Thailand trapped in a tumultuous cycle of coups and court rulings that have disbanded political parties and toppled multiple governments and prime ministers.
The Shinawatras and their business allies have borne the brunt of the crisis, which pits parties with mass appeal against a powerful nexus of conservatives, old-money families and royalist generals with deep connections in key institutions.
Nine days ago, the same court that dismissed Srettha over a cabinet appointment also dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward Party – the 2023 election winner – over a campaign to amend a law against insulting the crown, which it said risked undermining the constitutional monarchy. 
The hugely popular opposition has since regrouped under a new vehicle, People’s Party.
The upheaval in the past few days also indicates a breakdown in a fragile truce struck between Thaksin and his rivals in the establishment and military old guard, which had enabled the tycoon’s dramatic return from 15 years of self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become premier the same day.
The decision to put Paetongtarn in play at such a critical juncture has surprised many analysts, who had expected Thaksin to delay his dynasty and avoid exposing Paetongtarn to the type of battles that led to the downfall of himself and sister Yingluck, who both fled overseas to avoid jail after their governments were ousted by the military.
“The Shinawatras’ gambit here is risky,” said Nattabhorn Buamahakul, Managing Partner at government affairs consultancy, Vero Advocacy.
“It puts Thaksin’s daughter in the crosshairs and a vulnerable position.”
Tiitipol Phaddeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University, believes this development is “a big bet for Thaksin”.
“There is a possibility for her (Paetongtarn) to fail and that is a big risk for the entire Shinawatra dynasty,” he said.
“If she can’t bring the economy back and bring the party back then it could be the end because the People’s Party is gaining more momentum after their dissolution.”
The big question will be how much Paetongtarn will be influenced by her father.
Thaksin Shinawatra has cast a remarkable shadow over the kingdom’s politics for two decades. He transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party enduring loyalty from the rural masses – and two elections.
But that success came at a cost – he was despised by Thailand’s powerful elites and conservative establishment, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.
Ousted as prime minister by the army in 2006, Thaksin took himself into exile two years later but never stopped commenting on national affairs – or meddling in them, according to his critics. Thaksin returned to the country last year.
Paetongtarn, known in Thailand by her nickname Ung Ing, is Thaksin’s youngest child. She grew up in Bangkok and studied hotel management in Britain, then married a commercial pilot. The couple now have two children.