The youngest daughter of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a parliamentary vote to become the Southeast Asian nation’s next leader, capping a tumultuous period that saw a court oust her predecessor and dissolve the top opposition party.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, secured the support of 319 lawmakers in the 500-member Thai House of Representatives, making her Thailand’s youngest prime minister ever. Her elevation keeps intact an unwieldy alliance between the Shinawatra-controlled Pheu Thai Party and a number of royalist conservative and military-backed parties that joined together following an election last year.
Paetongtarn appeared nervous when addressing reporters for the first time after the parliamentary vote. She declined to answer any questions about her government’s policies, saying she would wait until her appointment is endorsed by Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Photo: AFP
“I never thought I’m the smartest person in the room, but I have clear motivations and I have a strong team with me,” Paetongtarn said with a shaky voice. “My father Facetimed me and told me to do my best. He said he was happy to see his daughter in this post before he gets Alzheimer’s.”
Paetongtarn becomes the third member of the influential Shinawatra clan to lead the country. Her father was removed in a 2006 coup, while her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, was disqualified by a court shortly before a 2014 takeover by the military.
She was picked for the top job after the Thai Constitutional Court dismissed former prime minister Srettha Thavisin as leader in an ethics violation case. His 11-month-old tenure saw his party’s popularity slide as the now-disbanded Move Forward — winner of the most seats in last year’s election and now the principal opponent of the pro-royalist establishment — steadily climbed.
While Paetongtarn might continue much of the policies pursued by Srettha’s administration, she might abandon a plan to distribute 10,000 baht (US$286) each to an estimated 50 million adults to stimulate the economy, local media reported yesterday.
Besides keeping the coalition together, Paetongtarn would need to find ways to lift sluggish economic growth, attract foreign investment into high-tech industries and stem the exodus of foreign funds from the nation’s stocks.
The support of conservative groups for a Pheu Thai-led government is a sign that a deal between the pro-royalist establishment which allowed Thaksin to return from a 15-year exile was still intact.
Although her victory ended a brief period of political uncertainty, it is far from certain that her government would be stable.
“She will be her father’s puppet and won’t likely be able to do much,” said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate professor at Mahidol University in Thailand. “Questions remain how she’ll be able to solve economic issues which even Srettha couldn’t.”
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