(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Paetongtarn Shinawatra was confirmed as prime minister by Thailand’s king yesterday, two days after parliament elected her, clearing the way for her to form a cabinet in the coming weeks.
Paetongtarn, 37, becomes Thailand’s youngest prime minister, just days after his ally Srettha Thavisin was removed as prime minister by the Constitutional Court, a court that has played a central role in Thailand’s 20-year political crisis.
Paetongtarn, the daughter of controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won a parliamentary vote on Friday with nearly two-thirds of the vote, becoming Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra to take office – after Thaksin and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
The approval by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, a formality, was read out by House of Representatives Secretary Apat Sukhanand at a ceremony in Bangkok yesterday.
Wearing her official uniform, Paetongtarn knelt before a portrait of the king and then gave a short speech thanking the king and the people’s representatives for their support as prime minister.
“As head of the executive branch, I will fulfill my duty together with the legislators with an open heart,” she said. “I will listen to all opinions so that together we can move the country forward in a stable manner.”
Thaksin, 75, was a prominent participant in the ceremony, standing in the front row alongside Paetongtarn’s husband.
“She has to work hard. Her strength is that she is young. She can ask anyone for help – she is humble,” Thaksin told reporters after the ceremony. “Twenty-three years ago she stood behind me, but today I stand behind her.”
Paetongtarn, who has never served in government before, faces challenges on several fronts: the economy is weakening, the popularity of her Pheu Thai party is waning and her flagship program to issue cash in the form of 500 billion baht ($15 billion) digital wallets has yet to be implemented.
After accepting the royal support, Paetongtarn hugged her father Thaksin and other family members.
In her first press conference, Paetongtarn said she would continue all the policies of her predecessor Srettha, including “major” economic stimulus and reforms, combating illegal drugs, improving the country’s general health system and promoting gender diversity.
She said the government would not abandon its flagship digital wallet project but would seek to “explore and listen to additional options” to ensure the system was fiscally viable.
“The goal is to stimulate the economy, so that intention remains,” Paetongtarn said.
The prime minister said she had no plans to appoint her father Thaksin to a government position but would seek his advice.
Paetongtarn said details of her government policy would be presented to Parliament next month.
The ouster of her predecessor, Srettha, after less than a year in office is a reminder of the risk to Paetongtarn, as Thailand is caught in a turbulent cycle of coup attempts and court rulings that have dissolved political parties and toppled numerous governments and prime ministers.
Also at stake is the legacy and political future of the billionaire Shinawatra family, whose once unstoppable populist power suffered its first electoral defeat in more than two decades last year and had to reach an agreement with its arch-enemies in the military to form a government.
The unrest of the past few days points to a breakdown of the fragile truce between Thaksin and his rivals in the royalist establishment, which had allowed the tycoon to make his dramatic return from self-imposed exile in 2023 after 15 years and enabled his ally Srettha to be appointed prime minister the same day.
More than a week ago, the court that dismissed Srettha over a cabinet appointment dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward party – the winner of the 2023 election – over a campaign to amend a royal insult law that the court said threatened to undermine the constitutional monarchy.
The hugely popular opposition, the main challenger to Pheu Thai, has since regrouped under a new umbrella, the People’s Party.
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