The Thailand’s parliament elected political neophyte Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, as its youngest prime minister on Friday, only a day after she was thrust into the spotlight amid an unrelenting power struggle between the country’s warring elites.
The daughter of divisive political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra sailed through a house vote and now faces a baptism of fire, just two days after ally Srettha Thavisin was dismissed as premier by a judiciary central to Thailand’s two decades of intermittent turmoil.
At stake for Paetongtarn could be the legacy and political future of the billionaire Shinawatra family, whose once unstoppable populist juggernaut suffered its first election defeat in over two decades last year, and had to do a deal with its bitter enemies in the military to form a government.
She will become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra to take the top job after aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, and father Thaksin, the country’s most influential and polarising politician.
In her first media comments as prime minister-elect, Paetongtarn said she had been saddened and confused by Srettha’s dismissal and decided it was time to step up.
“I talked to Srettha, my family and people in my party and decided it was about time to do something for the country and the party,” she told reporters.
Paetongtarn won easily with 319 votes, or nearly two-thirds of the house. Her response after winning was posting on Instagram a picture of her lunch – chicken rice – with the caption: “The first meal after listening to the vote.”
Paetongtarn has never served in government and the decision to put her in play is a roll of the dice for Pheu Thai and its 75-year-old figurehead Thaksin.
She will immediately face challenges on multiple fronts, with the economy floundering, competition from a rival party growing, and Pheu Thai’s popularity dwindling, having yet to deliver on its flagship cash handout programme worth 500 billion baht ($14.25 billion).
Thailand’s benchmark index.SETI was up about 1.1% by 0900 GMT on Friday, having after lost nearly 9% this year.
The hugely popular opposition, Pheu Thai’s biggest challenger, 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.
Thaksin’s gamble on Paetongtarn at such a critical juncture surprised many analysts, who expected him to delay his dynasty and avoid exposing his daughter to the type of battles that led to the downfall of himself and sister Yingluck.
Both Yingluck and Thaksin had fled overseas to avoid jail after their governments were ousted by the military. Paetongtarn may not have the maturity to battle the games that she will face, shortly.
Team BharatShakti
(With Inputs from Reuters)
