Sax-playing pilot leading bet for Thai premiership

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Saxophonist, occasional pilot and heir to a construction fortune, Anutin Charnvirakul was once banned from politics but is now the leading candidate to become Thailand’s next prime minister.

The 58-year-old former minister — who championed Thailand’s 2022 decriminalization of cannabis — secured the backing Wednesday of the People’s Party, in opposition despite being the largest group in parliament.

That could give him enough votes to succeed Paetongtarn Shinawatra, ousted by a court order last week, but her party has moved to dissolve the legislature and call fresh elections, leaving his path to the premiership uncertain.

Paetongtarn is the daughter of former prime minister and telecom billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family have dominated Thai politics for two decades but are now faltering.

Anutin himself is the scion of another political and business dynasty. His father was acting prime minister during a 2008 political crisis and went on to spend three years as interior minister.

The family fortune centers on Sino-Thai Engineering, a construction firm that has secured lucrative government contracts over decades, including for the capital’s main airport and parliament building.

A New York-trained industrial engineer, Anutin entered politics in his early 30s as an advisor to the foreign affairs ministry, later becoming health minister, interior minister and deputy prime minister.

Nicknamed “Noo,” which means “mouse” in Thai, he styles himself as a man of the people with a taste for Thai street food despite his wealth.

He appears on social media stir-frying with a wok wearing T-shirts and shorts, and performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.