Thailand: Parliament Appoints Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra’s Daughter as Prime Minister

Thailand’s new prime minister is named Paetongtarn Shinawatra, she is 37 years old, the youngest daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a multi-billionaire, telecommunications tycoon and former patron of Manchester City soccer club who was overthrown by a coup d’état and returned home from exile only last year.

Thus, Paetongtarn became the youngest head of government in Thailand since the fall of the absolute monarchy in 1932 and the second woman to hold the post. The candidacy of Paetongtarn Shinawatra was supported by 319 deputies, 145 deputies voted against, and another 27 abstained from voting. According to the Asian country’s media, her election marks “the return to power of the Shinawatra dynasty for the third time,” after her father Thaksin (prime minister from 2001 to 2006) and aunt Yingluck (2011-2014), the first female prime minister, both of whom were ousted in a military coup following mass popular protests.

To take over the reins of government, Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s appointment must be approved by the sovereign, King Vajiralongkorn. But it will be a formality. The extraordinary parliamentary vote became necessary after Bangkok’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday, August 13, removed from office Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, accused of “appointing a minister condemned by justice.”

According to the Bangkok Post newspaper, Thavisin’s dismissal “represents the latest chapter in a long tug-of-war between the military and the monarchical establishment on the one hand, and the populist Pheu Thai party, which is led by the Shinawatra family, on the other.” Of the other 10 parties that make up the government majority, none has offered an alternative candidate to the financial tycoon’s daughter.