BANGKOK: On Sunday, August 18, two days after parliament elected her, Thailand’s king approved Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister, clearing the way for her to appoint a Cabinet in the upcoming weeks.
Only a few days after ally Srettha Thavisin was ousted from office by the Constitutional Court—a judiciary crucial to Thailand’s two decades of sporadic political unrest Paetongtarn, 37, becomes the country’s youngest prime minister.
Paetongtarn, the contentious political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter, easily won 319 votes, or almost two-thirds of the house, in Friday’s House vote to become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra to hold the position after Thaksin and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
At a ceremony in Bangkok on Sunday, House of Representatives Secretary Apat Sukhanand read out King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s formal approval. Outfitted in her official uniform, Paetongtarn bowed to a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn and made a brief speech expressing her gratitude to the king and the people’s representatives for endorsing her as prime minister.
With open arms, I will carry out my duties as head of the executive branch in collaboration with the legislators,” she declared. “I will listen to all opinions so together we can take the country forward with stability,” she stated.
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