Pheu Thai Party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra (nicknamed “Ung Ing”) and daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra addresses members of the media at local news outlet Voice TV while walking with her husband Pidok Sooksawas in Bangkok on August 16, 2024. Salute.
Lillian Suwanlampa | AFP | Getty Images
On the campaign trail in rural Thailand last year, Paetongtarn Shinawatra reminded voters in her first election of the populist legacy of her influential billionaire family.
The 37-year-old campaigned for weeks while visibly pregnant, with mixed results. Her Pheu Thai party came in second place in the 2023 election but formed a governing coalition after vote-getters were blocked by military-backed lawmakers.
Now the daughter of the country's most divisive but enduring politician, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is set to take over the role once held by her father and aunt, underscoring her family's central role in Thai politics.
On Friday, about 48 hours after a court ordered the dismissal of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, Paetongtarn secured the parliamentary support needed to replace him.
With this victory, Bai Dongchan will become Thailand's youngest prime minister and the second woman to hold the position after her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
She will also seek to defeat another recurring theme in the Shinawatra family: the governments led by her father and aunt were overthrown by the military in 2006 and 2014, respectively.
He believed the youngest of three children told reporters after winning Pheu Thai's nomination on Thursday: “The country has to move forward.”
“We are determined to work together to move the country forward.”
Thaksin himself returned to Thailand last August after 15 years in self-imposed exile, when Pheu Thai – the former telecoms tycoon's latest political vehicle – formed a government in alliance with military-backed parties.
The union between the populist Pheu Thai party and the conservative royalist bloc has been vying for supremacy in the country of 66 million for more than two decades, sometimes resulting in coups and civil unrest, making this an unlikely combination.
Srettha is the fourth prime minister from a Thaksin-backed party to be ousted by a court ruling, a sign that deep divisions remain.
Stepping into the role will be the untested Paetongtarn, who has never held an elected government position and has no administrative experience.
“She will be scrutinized. She will be under a lot of pressure,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University.
“She's going to have to rely on her father.”
Father's long shadow
Paetongtarn spent his childhood amid the country's tumultuous politics, when the ambitious Thaksin Shinawatra planned to get rich quickly and founded the Thai Rak Thai Party in 1998.
“When I was eight years old, my father entered politics. From that day on, my life was intertwined with politics,” she said in a speech in March.
Thaksin became prime minister in 2001 and expanded spending on health care, rural development and agricultural subsidies – known as “Thaksinomics” for the poor.
In 2006, he was ousted in a military coup.
After unceremoniously dropping out of school, Paetongtarn (also known by her nickname Ung Ing) enrolled at Bangkok's elite Chulalongkorn University, a period she describes as one of her toughest, as she was also Accused of cheating.
“Sometimes, I see pictures of my father pinned to the wall, crossed out or painted over,” she said during a speech in March.
“When you're 20 years old, it's hard to overcome being surrounded by hate.”
Less than two decades since then, Paetongtarn, who is married with two children, found herself last year as the face of the family-backed Pheu Thai party and one of its three candidates for prime minister.
In October last year, after the Pheu Thai Party formed the government after many twists and turns, she was appointed as the leader of the party.
She announced in front of hundreds of party members: “The Pheu Thai Party will continue to fulfill its important mission of improving people's livelihood.”
Paetongtarn's relative inexperience occasionally showed.
In May, when Sretha's government was feuding with the Bank of Thailand over interest rates, she drew criticism for saying the central bank's independence was an “impediment” to solving economic problems.
In a corner office in Bangkok's Venetian Gothic government building, Paetongtarn may now find guidance and support from her father – just as he has always done.
“Ever since I was young, I would consult my father on all matters, whether personal or professional,” Paetongtarn told Reuters last year.
“He's done it before. He's the prime minister.”