‘Puppet of her dad’: new Thai PM Paetongtarn to remain in Thaksin’s shadow, analysts say

The appointment of Paetongtarn Shinawatra – a politically inexperienced novice – as Thailand’s new prime minister will mean that she will remain under the tutelage and in the “shadow” of her father, former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who will “hold sway” over policymaking, analysts have said.

On Friday, Thailand’s parliament voted the 37-year-old Paetongtarn to be the country’s next prime minister after the ruling Pheu Thai party nominated her to replace dismissed leader Srettha Thavisin.

The move comes two days after the country’s top court sacked Srettha over his decision to appoint a minister who had a criminal conviction.

The youngest child of billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn would become the latest member of the family after her father and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra to hold the nation’s top job and the second woman to lead Thailand.

Srettha’s removal was the latest development in a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and populist parties linked to Thaksin, who shook up the country’s staid politics when he was first elected prime minister in 2001.

Noting that Paetongtarn had little experience in politics, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a professor at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies in Japan’s Kyoto University, said her political career was possible simply because she was Thaksin’s daughter.

“Since stepping into the role of the leader of Pheu Thai, she has continued to make controversial statements, she said what she could not deliver and this has affected her credibility and leadership,” Pavin said.

For instance, even though Paetongtarn called out former prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha for staging a coup, her party’s governing coalition later included two pro-military parties