Thailand’s newly elected Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra greets after winning the parliamentary vote to become a prime minister at the Pheu Thai Party’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, August 16, 2024. The ruling Pheu Thai Party’s leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, succeeded in the parliamentary vote to become Thailand’s 31st prime minister. EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Aug. 18 (UPI) — Thailand’s king endorsed the country’s new prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Sunday, re-establishing the reign of the family’s powerful Thai political dynasty.
Paetongtarn is the daughter of ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra and, at 37 is the youngest Thai prime minister ever, and only the second woman to serve as prime minister. Her aunt — and Thaksin’s sister — Yingluck Shinawatra – is the only other female ever to act as prime minister.
“This is the highest honor and pride in my life,” she said after the endorsement, according to CNN. “I, my family and the Pheu Thai party greatly appreciate His Majesty’s kindness. I am determined to perform my duties with my loyalty and honesty for the benefit of the nation and the people.”
Paetongtarn Shinawatra precedes Srettha Thavisin, a member of the same Pheu Thai party, who was ousted by the Constitutional Court in the past week amid allegations that he had violated the country’s ethics rules by appointing a lawyer who had served prison time to his Cabinet.
The court also dissolved the country’s progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in last year’s election, and banned its leaders from politics for a decade a week before the ouster of Srettha.
Paetongtarn said she would address the problems Thailand is facing first, and saying she will instill a spirit of cooperation.
“No one wants to repeat what happened to my father and my aunt,” Paetongtarn said.
Her father’s economic and populist policies garnered widespread public support, and helped Thaksin create what would become a political synastry in Thailand, despite a coup that ousted him in 2006.
One of three Pheu Thai candidates in the national elections in May, Paetongtarn made headlines when she delivered a child two weeks prior to the vote.