BANGKOK: Thailand's Pheu Thai party has chosen Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, the daughter of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as its prime ministerial candidate, it announced on Thursday, a day after a court dismissed the current premier in an ethics case.
“We have decided to nominate Paetongtarn Shinawatra,” party secretary-general Sorawong Thienthong told a news conference in Bangkok.
Lawmakers will vote on Friday in parliament, where Pheu Thai heads a ruling coalition, on whether to approve Paetongtarn as prime minister.
“We are confident that the party and coalition parties will lead our country to help overcome Thailand's economic crisis,” Paetongtarn said after the announcement.
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin after ruling that he had violated regulations by appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction, plunging the kingdom into fresh political uncertainty.
Pheu Thai — the election vehicle of former Manchester City owner Thaksin — is the largest member of an 11-party ruling coalition that includes monarchist and pro-military groups that were once bitter rivals.
Srettha is the party's third prime minister to be expelled by the Constitutional Court and is stepping down after less than a year.
Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability marked by coups, street protests and court orders, much of it fuelled by the military and pro-monarchy establishment's protracted battle against progressive parties linked to its bête noire, Thaksin.
The tycoon former prime minister returned to Thailand last August after 15 years in exile, the same day Srettha seized power in an alliance with pro-military parties previously staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his supporters.
The moment appeared to suggest a truce in the long-running dispute as both sides sought to confront the threat posed by the new Forward Party (MFP), which won the popular vote in last year's election.
He was subsequently prevented from forming a government.
Paetongtarn was chosen ahead of Pheu Thai stalwart Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75.
The move showed “Pheu Thai's strategy of supporting the youth movement” in Thailand, said political analyst Yuttaporn Issarachai. AFP.
But he said it would be difficult to “remove the conservative and military influence” that has dominated Thai politics for decades.
