Thaksin Ally Srettha Elected as New Thai PM, Ending Three-Month Political Impasse
- Srettha’s win ends stalemate since the May 14 election
- New premier won with support from influential senators
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Some three months after an election that represented one of the biggest challenges to Thailand’s royal establishment in years, the country finally has a new prime minister — and it’s someone who has the support of forces aligned with the palace.
Srettha Thavisin, a former property tycoon, became the first new leader to take charge of Thailand since 2014, when former army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha staged a coup. Srettha, 61, won 482 votes in a joint sitting of the parliament’s two chambers with 747 lawmakers on Tuesday. He was backed by 152 members of the military-appointed Senate in addition to his bloc’s 314 elected lawmakers and some others.