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Agence France-Presse

Thailand’s Pheu Thai party has chosen 37-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as its candidate for prime minister, it announced on Thursday, a day after a court dismissed the incumbent premier in an ethics case.
“We decide to nominate Paetongtarn Shinawatra,” party secretary general Sorawong Thienthong told a press conference in Bangkok.
Lawmakers will vote on Friday in parliament – where Pheu Thai heads a governing coalition – on whether to approve Paetongtarn as prime minister.
“We are confident that the party and coalition parties will lead our country in helping with Thailand’s economic crisis,” Paetongtarn said after the announcement.

The vote comes after Thailand’s Constitutional Court sacked premier Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday after ruling he had breached regulations by appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction, plunging the kingdom into fresh political uncertainty.
Pheu Thai – the electoral vehicle of one-time Manchester City owner Thaksin – is the largest member of a governing coalition of 11 parties that includes royalist and pro-military outfits who were once its bitter rivals.
Srettha was the third prime minister from Pheu Thai to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court and leaves office after less than a year.
Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability marked by coups, street protests and court orders.
Much of it has been fuelled by the long-running battle by the military and pro-royalist establishment against progressive parties linked to Thaksin.
The tycoon ex-premier returned to Thailand last August from 15 years in self-exile on the same day Srettha took power in an alliance with pro-military parties previously staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his followers.
The timing seemed to suggest a truce in the long-standing feud as both sides sought to see off the threat posed by the newer Move Forward Party (MFP), which won the popular vote in last year’s election.
It was later blocked from forming a government.


Paetongtarn was chosen ahead of Pheu Thai stalwart Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75.
The move showed “Pheu Thai’s strategy to stand by the youth movement” that has Thailand, political analyst Yuttaporn Issarachai told AFP.
But he said it would be difficult to “move on from the conservative and military influence” that has dominated Thai politics for decades.
The case against Srettha was brought by 40 former senators appointed by the military junta that ousted an elected Pheu Thai government in a 2014 coup.
The senate also played a crucial role in blocking the MFP after last year’s elections.
Senators alarmed by MFP’s pledges to reform lèse-majesté laws and break up powerful business monopolies refused to endorse its then-leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister, and the party was forced into opposition.

The top court last week dissolved the MFP and banned Pita and its main officials from politics for 10 years.
Srettha, meanwhile, was dismissed over the appointment of Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer associated with Thaksin.
Pichit, sentenced to six months in jail in 2008 for a corruption-related offence, quit the cabinet after the case was filed in a bid to save Srettha, but the court pressed ahead with the case.


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Thailand

Thailand’s Pheu Thai party chooses Paetongtarn Shinawatra as PM candidate

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra greets supporters with his youngest daughter Paetongtarn. Photo: AFP

Pheu Thai party’s prime ministerial candidates Paetongtarn Shinawatra (left) and former incumbent premier Srettha Thavisin. Photo: AFP

Thailand’s top court last week dissolved the Move Forward party and banned its leader Pita Limjaroenrat and its main officials from politics for 10 years. Photo: Bloomberg

Thai court dissolves election-winning Move Forward Party, bans its leaders from politics

Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward Party, centre, outside the Constitutional Court in Bangkok, Thailand on August 7. Photo: Bloomberg

Supporters gather at the Move Forward Party (MFP) headquarters in Bangkok on August 7. Photo: AFP

Supporters of the Move Forward Party react at the party headquarters after the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the party on August 7. Photo: AP 

Thailand PM Srettha Thavisin dismissed by court – ‘the show is over’

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin speaks to the media in Bangkok on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Recently dismissed Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin speaks to members of media at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

A part of the Thai-Chinese Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed railway project at Sung Noen Station in Nakhon Ratchasima province. Photo: AFP

Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidates Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Srettha Thavisin at the party’s final campaign event in Bangkok on May 12, 2023. Photo: AFP

Thai soldiers block access to a section of an overpass on May 24, 2014 during a protest against the military coup in Bangkok. Photo: EPA

Srettha’s exit: are Thailand’s conservatives on the rise, democracy in retreat?

A newspaper featuring a photograph of Thailand’s former prime minister Srettha Thavisin, at a news stand in Bangkok. Photo: Bloomberg

Thai candidate for prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra speaks during an election rally for Thailand’s main opposition Pheu Thai party in Nonthaburi, north of Bangkok, on April 5, 2023. Photo: AFP

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul arrives at parliament in Bangkok on August 15. Photo: AFP

Pheu Thai Party’s MPs attend the party’s meeting for the nomination of the next prime minister, at the Parliament building in Bangkok on August 15. Photo: EPA-EFE

Thailand’s Srettha next in firing line as country struggles to shrug off political chaos

If Thailand’s Srettha Thavisin is removed from office, the ruling Pheu Thai would have to nominate a new candidate for prime minister. Photo: AP


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The vote comes a day after a court dismissed the incumbent premier Srettha Thavisin, in office for less than a year, in an ethics case


Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability marked by coups, street protests and court orders.


Thailand’s Pheu Thai party chooses Paetongtarn Shinawatra as PM candidate

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The vote comes a day after a court dismissed the incumbent premier Srettha Thavisin, in office for less than a year, in an ethics case

The vote comes a day after a court dismissed the incumbent premier Srettha Thavisin, in office for less than a year, in an ethics case