The economy in the divided country will be the lifeblood of the new young leader, analysts say.
Thailand's king has endorsed Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the country's new prime minister two days after parliament elected her.
Paetongtarn, 37, was sworn in on Sunday, becoming Thailand's youngest prime minister.
She landed the job just days after Srettha Thavisin was ousted as prime minister by the Constitutional Court, a central judiciary during Thailand's two decades of political turmoil.
Her approval as the country's new prime minister by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, a formality, was read out by House of Representatives Clerk Apat Sukhanand at a ceremony in Bangkok.
Paetongtarn won by nearly two-thirds in a House of Representatives vote on Friday, and knows the process well, coming from a family involved in Thai politics as the daughter of divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's first female prime minister.
Thailand's second female prime minister and leader of the Pheu Thai Party has strong support from senior party leaders and coalition partners, said Al Jazeera's Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok.
“She has not yet chosen a cabinet, but we gather from the people who are with her today that her cabinet will be very similar to that of her predecessor,” Cheng said, adding that Srettha was at the ceremony and the party wanted to show a level of continuity by not ousting him.
As part of the royal endorsement, Paetongtarn knelt in front of a portrait of the king and gave a short speech.
“As head of the executive branch, I will fulfill my duty alongside the legislators with an open heart,” she said. “I will listen to all opinions so that together we can lead the country forward with stability.”
A faltering economy in a divided country
Paetongtarn inherits a country in economic trouble and where support for his party is waning.
At her first news conference, the newly elected leader said she would continue the policies of her predecessor Srettha, an ally, including “major” economic stimulus and reform, combating illegal drugs, improving the country’s universal health care system and promoting gender diversity.
The economy is a real concern for Thai voters, with many wondering why his party has failed to implement the digital wallet plan, a promise to give around $300 to every voter in Thailand, Cheng said.
According to Pravit Rojanaphruk, a columnist for Kaisar English, a Bangkok-based media outlet, the economy will be the central theme of Paetongtarn.
“In the past ten years, nine of them under military or semi-military rule, the Thai economy has not been doing well,” he told Al Jazeera from Singapore. “It is falling behind its neighbour and public debt is high.”
The prime minister also said she has no plans to appoint her father Thaksin to any government post, but will seek his advice, which is welcomed by many in the country's government, the columnist added.
Srettha was in office for less than a year, a symptom of Thailand's cycle of coups and court rulings that have dissolved political parties and toppled multiple governments and prime ministers.
The billionaire Shinawatra family is another challenge for Paetongtarn, whose populist party suffered its first electoral defeat in more than two decades last year.
Earlier this month, the court that sacked Srettha over a cabinet appointment dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward party (winner of last year's election) over its campaign to amend a royal insult law that the court said risked undermining the constitutional monarchy.
But the new prime minister's government is unlikely to be a concern on that front, Rojanaphruk said.
“Under the new prime minister, [the government] … will try to do everything possible to appease the military and the royalists, so that they do not touch the royal defamation law,” he said.
The opposition, which is hugely popular and the main rival of Pheu Thai, has since regrouped under the newly formed People's Party. The country is therefore still divided between them and the Pheu Thai Party, Rojanaphruk said.
