Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become new Thai PM

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, will be Thailand’s new prime minister after she sailed through a vote of lower house lawmakers.

Once formally appointed by Thailand’s king, she will become the country’s youngest-ever leader; only the second woman to run the nation and the third Shinawatra to carry the family name into the post, after her father Thaksin and her aunt Yingluck.

In her first comments as prime minister, Paetongtarn said she had been saddened and confused by Srettha’s dismissal and decided it was time to step up.

“I talked to Srettha, my family and people in my party and decided it was about time to do something for the country and the party,” she told reporters.

“I hope I can do my best to make the country go forward. That’s what I’m trying to do. Today I’m honoured and I feel very happy.”

While the 11-party coalition comfortably backed her through the threshold of 248 lawmakers, Paetongtarn enters a cauldron of political rivalries between opposing elite factions, with her father and the Shinawatra political brand still highly influential but widely loathed by sections of the arch-royalist conservative establishment.

She will also be responsible for stewarding Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy as it scrambles to keep up with its regional peers, weighed down by massive household debt and an unstable government which are frightening off investors.

“Fundamentally, Pheu Thai’s focus is on boosting the economy, and China plays a major role in this strategy,” said Pongphisoot Busbarat, an assistant professor with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Srettha followed the party’s line, and Paetongtarn was unlikely to deviate from the approach, he said, adding that