BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — The 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra became Thailand’s prime minister Friday, the third member of the influential but divisive clan to lead the country.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra — the youngest leader in Thailand’s history as a constitutional monarchy and the second woman premier after her aunt — assumes office after two court rulings that threw the kingdom’s politics into turmoil.
She will hope to avoid the fate of her father and aunt, both of whom were ousted as PM by the army during a two-decade power struggle between Thaksin and the kingdom’s conservative pro-military, pro-royalist establishment.
Lawmakers approved Paetongtarn of the Pheu Thai party as premier by 319 votes to 145, House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on live TV.
The vote was forced when the kingdom’s Constitutional Court sacked previous premier Srettha Thavisin for appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
Srettha’s ouster on Wednesday in a case brought by army-appointed former senators was the latest round in the long-running scrap between the Thai elite and populist parties linked to Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon and one-time Manchester City owner.