Thailand’s king backs Phayathongthan Shinawatra as PM Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Phayathongthan Shinawatra received the nod from Thailand’s king on Sunday to become prime minister, two days after being elected by parliament, paving the way for her to form a government in the coming weeks.

At 37, Phae Thong Than became Thailand’s youngest prime minister just days after his colleague Sretha Thavisin was ousted from office by the Constitutional Court, the judiciary that has been in charge of the country’s two decades of intermittent political turmoil.

Phae Thong Than, the daughter of divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won a vote in the lower house of parliament on Friday by a nearly two-thirds margin to become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra to hold the post after Thaksin and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s approval is merely a formality and was read out by House of Representatives Secretary-General Apat Sukanand at a ceremony in Bangkok on Sunday.

King Phrae Thong Thanh, dressed in formal attire, knelt to pay homage to a portrait of the King, then gave a short speech thanking the King and the people’s representatives for supporting him as Prime Minister.

“As the head of the administration, I will do my duty with the legislators with an open mind,” she said. “I will listen to all opinions and work together to steadily develop the country,” she said.

Having never held government before, Phea Thong Thanh faces challenges on multiple fronts: the economy is slowing, her Pheu Thai party is losing popularity, and she has yet to launch her flagship 500 billion baht ($15 billion) digital wallet cash transfer program.

After receiving royal support, Phaya Thong Than hugged his father Thaksin and other family members.

At her first press conference, Prime Minister Phaetongtarn said she would continue all the policies of her predecessor, Sretha, including “massive” economic stimulus and reforms, combating illegal drugs, improving the country’s universal health care system and promoting gender diversity.

She said the government would not abandon its flagship digital wallet policy, but would “study and listen to additional options” to ensure the system was fiscally responsible.

“The goal is to stimulate the economy so that these intentions can continue,” Paetongtarn said.

The prime minister said he did not plan to appoint his father Thaksin to any government post but would seek his advice.

Prime Minister Phaetongtarn said details of the government’s policy would be submitted to parliament next month.

The ouster of his predecessor, former Prime Minister Sretha, less than a year into his term is a reminder of the dangers facing Mr. Phae Thong Thanh at a time when Thailand is mired in a tumultuous cycle of coups and court rulings that has dismantled political parties and overthrown several governments and prime ministers.

Also at stake is the legacy and political future of the billionaire Shinawatra family, whose once unstoppable populist juggernaut lost its first election in two decades last year and was forced to make deals with its sworn enemies, the military, to form a government.

The recent upheaval shows the fragility of the truce between Thaksin and his royalist rivals, which allowed him to make a dramatic comeback from 15 years of self-imposed exile and take office alongside his ally Sretha on the same day in 2023.

A week ago, the court that dismissed Sreta over a cabinet appointment dispute dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward party, which won the 2023 election. The court said the party had campaigned to change the insult law, claiming it threatened to undermine the constitutional monarchy.

The hugely popular opposition party and Pheu Thai’s biggest challenger has since regrouped into a new party called the People’s Party.