Thaksin’s Daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra Becomes Thailand’s New Prime Minister
- She’s the third member of Shinawatra clan to lead Thailand
- Paetongtarn has pledged to lift Thai economy from crisis
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The youngest daughter of former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra won a parliamentary vote to become the Southeast Asian nation’s next prime minister, capping a tumultuous period that saw a court oust her predecessor and dissolve the top opposition party.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, secured the support of 319 lawmakers in the 500-member House of Representatives, making her Thailand’s youngest prime minister ever. Her elevation keeps intact an unwieldy alliance between the Shinawatra-controlled Pheu Thai Party and a number of royalist conservative and military-backed parties that joined together following an election last year.