In Thailand, the heiress of a political dynasty takes power – Technologist

The Shinawatra clan is back in power in Bangkok. Following a vote in parliament, Paetongtarn Shinawatra was elected by lawmakers on Friday, August 16, aged 37, to head the government, with 319 votes out of 493, replacing Srettha Thavisin, removed from office two days before. A mother of two, Paetongtarn – Thais refer to their politicians by their first name – has become the youngest prime minister in her country’s history and the second woman to lead the country after her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, who was overthrown by the army in 2014.

The youngest daughter of the dynasty’s patriarch, Thaksin Shinawatra, also dethroned in 2006 by a military coup after five years in power and returning from exile in August 2023, Paetongtarn is president of Pheu Thai (For Thais Party), the Shinawatras’ party. This makes her the third member of the family to become prime minister in 24 years.

Paetongtarn had been the party’s favorite in the polls during the campaign for the May 2023 elections, but his formation finished in second place, far from the hoped-for absolute majority. Pheu Thai’s other candidate, Srettha, was preferred as prime minister when the party chose to form a coalition with the defeated generals who had overthrown her aunt nine years earlier.

The arrangement allowed Thaksin, who had been living in Dubai since 2008, to return from exile: a royal pardon was granted, reducing to one year the eight-year prison sentence he had previously been handed in absentia in various corruption cases. Imposing a Shinawatra in power would have been difficult, however, given that Thaksin was still serving his sentence. Moreover, Thaksin seemed keen to preserve his daughter for later, especially as Paetongtarn was perceived as lacking in maturity and experience.

Return by proxy

One year on, the political landscape is in the midst of a major reshuffle following a double decision by the Constitutional Court, an institution at the service of the kingdom’s most conservative forces, which for decades has been imposing its dictates on Thai politics.

Firstly, on August 7, it dissolved the Move Forward party, which had come out on top in the 2023 elections, on the grounds that it had campaigned in favor of a reform of the lèse-majesté law. The law is heavily criticized by human rights organizations for the abuses to which it gives rise, in a constitutional monarchy where the king enjoys considerable power.

As for the Shinawatras, their surprising alliance with the conservatives has not spared them: On August 14, the same court removed Srettha from office for “gross violation of ethical rules,” due to the appointment, in May, of a minister who had served time in prison. The minister, a former lawyer for Thaksin, had resigned four days later. The court’s decision was seen as a warning to the ousted former prime minister, whose growing political activism seems to have horrified his former enemies.

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