Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Thailand's youngest prime minister PHOTO

The House of Representatives elected Paetongtarn "Ung Ing" Shinawatra, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, as Thailand's 31st Prime Minister.

She secured the position with 319 votes in favor, 145 votes against, and 27 abstentions, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

The nomination process began when Sorawong Thiengthong, Pheu Thai's Secretary-General, proposed Ms. Paetongtarn as the sole candidate for Prime Minister at the start of the parliamentary session, which was convened by Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha at 10 a.m.

Although Paetongtarn, 37, was not present at the meeting, her candidacy received support from 291 MPs. The debate on her nomination was followed by a vote at 11:11 a.m., with the result officially announced at 12:34 p.m. The House has 493 elected representatives, and Ms. Paetongtarn needed a simple majority of 248 votes to be elected. Of the 489 MPs present, she achieved the necessary majority.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest person ever to hold the office, succeeds Srettha Thavisin, who was removed from the position by the Constitutional Court on August 14 due to an ethical violation.

Ms Paetongtarn is the third member of the Shinawatra family to become Prime Minister, following her father Thaksin Shinawatra and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra. Thaksin’s brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, also briefly served as Prime Minister in 2008. Both Thaksin and Yingluck fled the country after military coups against their administrations.

Thaksin returned to Thailand last August and was sentenced to eight years in prison for abuse of power and conflict of interest during his time in office from 2001 to 2006. His sentence was later reduced to one year following a royal pardon. Thaksin did not spend any time in prison, as he was granted parole after six months in the Police General Hospital.

On August 15, coalition parties endorsed Paetongtarn as the Prime Ministerial candidate. Previously, there were discussions about nominating Chaikasem Nitisiri, a former justice minister and attorney-general.

For a candidate to be elected Prime Minister, they need the support of more than half of the current 493 lawmakers, equating to 248 votes. If the candidate fails to achieve this, the House must reconvene and repeat the voting process with the possibility of new nominations. The 11-party coalition government controls 314 seats in the House.

On August 14, the Constitutional Court removed Srettha from office due to ethical breaches, specifically his appointment of Pichit Chuenban as the PM’s Office Minister despite Chuenban's criminal record, which included bribery allegations and a prison sentence for contempt of court.

In contrast, opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut announced that the People's Party, which is the successor to the dissolved Move Forward Party, would not support the Pheu Thai candidate.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democrat Party, holding 25 seats, chose to abstain from the vote. The Move Forward Party had previously won the 2023 election but was unable to form a government due to strong opposition from unelected senators concerning its proposal to amend the lese-majeste law. Consequently, Pheu Thai formed a coalition government without Move Forward, which then moved into opposition.

For the vote on August 16, only the MPs' votes were counted, excluding senators from the decision-making process.