The House of Representatives on Friday elected Pheu Thai Party leader Paetongtarn “Ung Ing” Shinawatra as the 31st prime minister of Thailand with 319 votes for, 145 votes against and 27 abstentions.
Sorawong Thienthong, the Pheu Thai secretary-general, nominated Ms Paetongtarn as the sole prime ministerial candidate when Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha began the House meeting at 10am.
The motion was supported by 291 MPs. Ms Paetongtarn was not present at the meeting.
Government and opposition MPs rose to debate the nomination before voting started at 11.11am and was officially announced at 12.34pm.
A total of 489 of the 493 elected MPs were present in the chamber on Friday. Ms Paetongtarn needed a simple majority of 248 votes. Only votes from MPs – not senators – were required to elect the prime minister.
The 37-year-old daughter of former premier and Pheu Thai patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra becomes the youngest prime minister in the country’s history. She succeeded Srettha Thavisin, who was dismissed on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court for an ethical violation.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at a ceremony marking the 16th anniversary of the Pheu Thai Party at its headquarters in Bangkok on Sept 19, 2023. The 37-year-old Pheu Thai leader was elected the country's 31st prime minister on Friday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Shinawatra dynasty
Ms Paetongtarn is the third member of the Shinawatra family to hold the job after Thaksin and her aunt Yingluck. Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat also served briefly in the role in 2008. Thaksin and his younger sister Yingluck both fled into exile after military coups against their government.
Thaksin returned to Thailand in August last year and was sentenced to eight years in prison – later reduced to one year on a royal pardon – for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while in office from 2001-06. He did not spend a single night behind bars and was granted parole after staying for six months at the Police General Hospital.
On Thursday, the parties in the coalition government agreed to back Paetongtarn as the candidate for prime minister.
Key coalition figures had met at Thaksin’s residence on Wednesday evening and decided to choose Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75, a former justice minister and attorney-general. But some Pheu Thai MPS and other coalition members later voiced reservations about his suitability, particularly in light of his comments supporting amendment of the lese-majeste law.
The Constitutional Court removed Srettha from the PM’s post on Wednesday after finding him guilty of violating ethical standards by appointing Pichit Chuenban as a PM’s Office minister even though he had a jail record.
Pichit was once accused of trying to bribe Supreme Court officials and was flung behind bars for six months for contempt of court.
Still in opposition
Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of the opposition People's Party, said on Thursday that the party would not vote for the Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidate.
The People's Party is the latest incarnation of the Move Forward Party, which was dissolved by the Constitutional Court last week. The court ruled that Move Forward was guilty of jeopardising the constitutional monarchy and national security for advocating changes to the lese-majeste law.
Move Forward won the 2023 election but was unable to form a government because many unelected senators opposed its stand on lese-majeste law. The runner-up Pheu Thai Party subsequently formed a new coalition without Move Forward, and the latter moved into the opposition.
All 143 MPs from the People’s Party and all 25 MPs from the Democrats voted against Ms Paetongtarn in line with their parties’ resolutions.
But all six opposition MPs from the Thai Sang Thai Party voted for Ms Paetongtarn. Three other MPs from small parties — New, Thai Teachers for People and New Democracy — also voted for her.
Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, the Thai Sang Thai leader, was angry with her party’s MPs, saying they had defied the party’s stand and breached the political etiquette that applied to opposition members in such situations.
Thakorn Tanthasit, the party’s secretary-general, defended the move. He said he and fellow party MPs voted for Ms Paetongtarn as they believed it was important to end the political vacuum after Mr Srettha’s removal.
He insisted the party had not made any deals and had no vested interest in the decision, saying the people represented by the party MPs wanted a new government to address their problems as soon as possible.
Khunying Sudarat was one of the core members of the original Thai Rak Thai Party, the precursor of Pheu Thai, and served as a senior minister in Thaksin-led governments before deciding to pursue a new political path. She called a meeting with party executives on Friday afternoon to consider the actions of the MPs.
“I and the party executive board assure that Thai Sang Thai has a firm stance to maintain the democratic ideology and is duty-bound to perform the duty of the opposition party that must be honest to the voice of people and must comply with the joint resolution of the opposition parties,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of the opposition People's Party, and other party members vote against Pheu Thai's Paetongtarn Shinawatra during a vote for the prime minister on Friday. (Photo: Nutthawat Wichieanbut)