Thailand’s Pheu Thai party chooses Paetongtarn Shinawatra as PM candidate
This will signal continuity after Srettha Thavisin was removed as prime minister
THAILAND’S Pheu Thai party has chosen 37-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of billionaire ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, as its candidate for prime minister, it announced on Thursday (Aug 15), 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 ahead of a vote by lawmakers on Friday.
Paetongtarn had received the backing of a majority of lawmakers in Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party at a meeting on Thursday. The final decision was taken by party executives, who met later on Thursday.
Paetongtarn is the youngest of Thaksin’s three children and the nominal leader of Pheu Thai, the biggest group in an 11-party coalition seeking to retain power after a court disqualified fellow Pheu Thai member Srettha Thavisin as prime minister.
Local media earlier reported that another party member, former law minister Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75, was the frontrunner to become the next premier.
The 500-member elected House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a special session on Friday to choose a new leader after Srettha was removed from office by the nation’s Constitutional Court for an ethical violation.
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The appointment of Paetongtarn signals few changes to policies pursued by Srettha’s administration, which focused on bolstering growth through looser fiscal policies and tackling the high cost of living and near-record household debt.
Pheu Thai, which is effectively controlled by Thaksin and his family, has secured the support of some of the nation’s biggest pro-royalist conservative parties after a deal that brought the former leader back to Thailand following a prolonged exile. As long as the alliance holds, it has the support of more than 300 lawmakers in the lower house, enough to overcome any opposition.
Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the second-biggest group Bhumjaithai Party and a top contender from the conservative camp, said his party would back any Pheu Thai nominee.
“While it is still too early to tell, a new Cabinet that is able to provide a good balance between coalition parties may stand to last the remainder of the four-year term and provide some medium-term political stability,” according to Kaseedit Choonnawat, an analyst at Citigroup.
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