Just one day after she was propelled into the limelight amid an unending power battle between the nation’s feuding elites, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a political novice, was elected by the parliament of Thailand as the country’s youngest prime minister on Friday.
Two days after her ally Srettha Thavisin was removed from office as premier by a court that remained central to Thailand’s two decades of sporadic unrest, the daughter of the contentious political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra easily passed a house vote and now facing trial by fire.
The political future and legacy of the rich Shinawatra family, whose once-unstoppable populist juggernaut suffered its first election setback in almost two decades last year and had to make a deal with its ferocious military opponents to create a government, could be at stake for the 37-year-old Paetongtarn.
After father Thaksin, the nation’s most powerful and divisive politician, and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, she will become the second female prime minister of Thailand and the third Shinawatra to hold the position. With 319 votes, or over two-thirds of the house, Paetongtarn easily triumphed. She observed the voting from the Pheu Thai Party headquarters, not in parliament.
Her initial public response to the victory was to share a photo of her lunch—chicken rice—on Instagram with the statement, “The first meal after listening to the vote.”
Since Paetongtarn has never held public office, her inclusion in the Pheu Thai and its 75-year-old leader Thaksin’s decision is a gamble.
She will have difficulties right away on several fronts, including the faltering economy, increasing opposition from a rival party, and declining support for Pheu Thai due to its failure to fulfil its large-scale cash distribution plan, which is valued at 500 billion baht ($14.25 billion).
