Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the heir of Thailand’s most powerful political dynasty, is tipped to become the kingdom’s youngest leader in a parliament vote on Friday after a top court ousted a prime minister this week.
Her Pheu Thai party selected the 37-year-old to be its candidate in the vote to replace Srettha Thavisin, who was dismissed on Wednesday for appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
Srettha’s ouster threw Thailand into fresh political turmoil, fueled by a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and parties linked to Paetongtarn’s father, one-time Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra.
If she is voted in, Paetongtarn will become the youngest leader in Thailand’s history as a constitutional monarchy and the third of the Shinawatra name after her billionaire father and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
She must secure 247 votes from the 493 members currently sitting in parliament to win.
“We are confident that the party and coalition parties will lead our country in helping with Thailand’s economic crisis,” she said after her candidacy was announced on Thursday.
A political newcomer, Paetongtarn helped run the hotel arm of the ultra-rich family’s business empire before joining politics three years ago.
She was a near-constant presence on the campaign trail in last year’s election amid searing heat despite being heavily pregnant.
That vote ultimately saw Srettha take power in 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.
Pheu Thai members voted overwhelmingly in October 2023 for Paetongtarn to become party leader and vowed to rejuvenate its image.
During the Srettha government, she chaired the national soft power committee to push Thailand abroad.
Paetongtarn, known in Thailand by her nickname Ung Ing, is the youngest child of Thaksin, a policeman turned telecoms tycoon who won two elections in the early 2000s before being ousted in a coup in 2006.
She grew up in Bangkok and studied hotel management in Britain, then married commercial pilot Pidok Sooksawas in 2019 with two glitzy receptions in the Thai capital and Hong Kong. The couple now have two children.
Paetongtarn shares her jet-setting lifestyle with almost a million followers on Instagram, and her youth and energy stand out in a political scene dominated by strait-laced elderly men.
She was chosen ahead of Pheu Thai stalwart Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75.
The move showed “Pheu Thai’s strategy to stand by the youth movement,” 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.
Paetongtarn will hope to avoid the fate of her father and aunt — Yingluck was ousted by a military coup in 2014. Her uncle was also kicked out of office by a court ruling.
