Why Two Coups Can’t Keep Thailand’s Shinawatra Clan Down

Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra and his family have dominated Thai elections for much of the past two decades. A royalist establishment long saw the clan as a threat to its political power, and Shinawatras were ejected from office twice in military coups. In August, however, the bitter rivals buried their differences, Thaksin returned from self-imposed exile and the Pheu Thai party he backs joined with pro-military groups in a new coalition government. The about-turn was a response to the growing clout of a younger pro-democracy party, Move Forward, which campaigned harder than Pheu Thai against military rule and advocated changes to a law forbidding criticism of the monarchy. The deal ended a political vacuum that’s been destabilizing Thailand’s economy. But many Thais were left wondering what the Shinawatras now stand for.

Descendants of a Chinese immigrant who married a Thai woman in the late 19th century, the Shinawatras are Thailand’s most prominent political dynasty, with two of its members occupying the country’s top political office at different times in the last 22 years. The 74-year-old Thaksin has been a polarizing but enduring figure in the nation’s politics since he first became prime minister in 2001. A landslide victory for his Thai Rak Thai Party in 2005 won him a second term in office, which ended abruptly a year later in a military coup. Thaksin left Thailand in 2008 to avoid corruption charges he said were politically motivated. His sister Yingluck faced a similar fate after her Pheu Thai Party won an election in 2011 and made her Thailand’s first female prime minister. She was ousted by judicial order in 2014 and weeks later her government was toppled in yet another coup. In May this year, after almost nine years of military-backed rule, Thaksin’s youngest daughter, 37-year-old Paetongtarn, ran for prime minister. Pheu Thai came second in the election, behind the progressive Move Forward Party that’s popular among young and urban voters.