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The Thai parliament elected its youngest-ever prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, on Friday, just days after the dismissal of former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
Here’s more about Paetongtarn and what happened in Thailand:
Why was Srettha Thavisin removed as prime minister?
Constitutional Court judges voted 6-3 this year to accept a petition submitted by 40 senators to remove Srettha, of the Pheu Thai Party.
Senators had complained about Srettha’s appointment of former lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was jailed for six months in 2008 for contempt of court, following allegations that he had tried to bribe court officials with 2 million baht ($55,218) placed in a paper grocery bag.
The senators argued that Srettha’s appointment of Pichit fell short of ethical and moral standards.
Critics also speculated that Pichit’s ties with billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, who founded the Pheu Thai party in 2007, bolstered his ascension to the job.
Srettha was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in Bangkok on Wednesday. He is the fourth Thai prime minister in 16 years to be unseated by the Constitutional Court.
Who is the new prime minister?
Paetongtarn, 37, is the youngest child of billionaire Thaksin, 75, founder of the Pheu Thai party, with which Srettha was also affiliated.
Paetongtarn was elected easily on Friday, as her party and its allies hold 314 out of 493 seats in parliament, and she required the vote of at least half of the current legislators to become prime minister.
She studied at the elite conservative institute, Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok.
Paetongtarn is known by her nickname, Ung-Ing. Before entering politics three years ago, she helped run the hotel arm of her family’s business empire.
Her political career began in 2021, when she became chief of the Pheu Thai party’s Inclusion and Innovation Advisory Committee.
She gave birth to her second child two weeks before the 2023 elections, during which she was a favoured candidate.
Paetongtarn is the third person from her family to take the country’s top job. Her father, Thaksin, became prime minister with the Thai Rak Thai Party in 2001 until he was deposed by a military coup in 2006.
Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra became prime minister in 2011 until she was removed by the Constitutional Court in 2014 after she dismissed Thawil Pliensri from the National Security Council in 2011. That was followed soon after in 2014 by another military coup following months of political turmoil in Thailand.
Both Thaksin and Yingluck left Thailand for self-imposed exile to avoid arrest until Thaksin returned to Thailand in August 2023.
As well as being the youngest person to take the leadership, Paetongtarn is Thailand’s second-ever female prime minister after her aunt.
What is the political situation in Thailand?
Paetongtarn’s appointment has come amid a long-running battle between the pro-royalist military establishment and populist parties linked to the Pheu Thai party.
After the army seized power in the 2014 coup, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the army chief, said it had stepped in to end the bitter political division and dysfunction within the government. In 2017, the military government introduced a new constitution.
The military remained in control until 2019, when the first elections were held after a long delay.
Under Srettha, in 2023 Pheu Thai party allied itself with the same military that had overthrown its government in 2014.
Before then, the self-declared “pro-democracy” Pheu Thai had been in a coalition with the Move Forwards Party (MPF), but the MPF abandoned the coalition three months after the 2023 election.
MFP, which takes a critical stance towards the monarchy, had won the greatest number of seats in the 2023 election but was blocked from forming a government by a military-appointed Senate. Pheu Thai then formed the government.
The Constitutional Court dissolved the MFP on August 7 this year, banning its executive board members from politics for 10 years over its promise to amend strict royal defamation laws.
What are Paetongtarn’s policies?
When she campaigned for election as a prime ministerial candidate last year, Paetongtarn’s promises included lowering Bangkok’s public transportation fares, expanding healthcare coverage and doubling the minimum daily wage.
In Paetongtarn’s first term in office, she will be faced with Thailand’s struggling economy, her party’s dwindling popularity and a possible rise of the opposition, which, since the dissolution of MPF, has regrouped as the Peoples’ Party.
