Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the controversial former leader Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter, was selected by Parliament two days after a court decree ousted her predecessor. On Sunday, she was endorsed by the royal family and assumed the role of prime minister of Thailand.
She takes over as chairman of a coalition that includes military parties connected to the coup that overthrew the party’s previous government, replacing another prominent member of the same Pheu Thai Party.
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Following her rich father and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, Paetongtarn is the third Shinawatra to occupy the position. Both were overthrown in coups and sent into exile, though Thaksin came back to Thailand in 2018 after Pheu Thai established a new administration.
Senior members of the ruling coalition as well as her father, who has no official position but is regarded as Pheu Thai’s de facto leader, were present when she accepted her appointment letter during a ceremony held at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok.
Holding hands and grinning broadly, the father and daughter entered the building together from the same car.
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Paetongtarn thanked the king, the Thai people, and lawmakers, saying she would perform her duties with an open mind,” and will make every square inch of Thailand a space that allows Thai people to dare to dream, dare to create and dare to dictate their future.
Paetongtarn became Prime Minister days after the Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, after less than a year in office. The court found him guilty of a serious ethical breach for appointing a Cabinet minister who had been jailed for contempt of court after an alleged attempt to bribe a judge.
Paetongtarn is also Thailand’s second female prime minister after her aunt, and the country’s youngest leader at 37.
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Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of populist parties affiliated with Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, which triggered nearly two decades of deep political divisions that pitted a mostly poor, rural majority in the north that supported Thaksin against royalists, the military and their urban backers.
Parties linked to Thaksin won the most seats in every national election from 2001 until 2023 when it lost to the more progressive Move Forward Party.
Pheu Thai was able to form a government after Move Forward was blocked by the military-appointed Senate, partnering with former rivals in what was widely interpreted as a political bargain with the conservative establishment to stop Move Forward from forming a government.
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The same day, Thaksin returned from exile and briefly reported to prison for an eight-year sentence on charges related to corruption and abuse of power. He was moved almost immediately from prison to the hospital on grounds of ill health, and about a week after that, the king reduced his sentence to a single year. He was released on parole in February after spending six months serving time in the hospital.
Since his release, Thaksin has maintained a high profile traveling the country, and making public appearances.
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On Saturday, Thaksin’s lawyer Winyat Chatmontree posted on Facebook that Thaksin was among the convicts granted a royal amnesty by the king on the occasion of his birthday in late July. It took effect Sunday, which means Thaksin is free ahead of his original parole schedule.
However, the amnesty does not protect Thaksin from an ongoing case for defaming the monarchy, which was indicted in June after being originally filed in 2016. It has been seen by some analysts as a warning from Thaksin’s enemies that he should tone down his political activities.
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