She is the youngest prime minister to ever hold office.
On Friday, August 16, Thailand’s parliament moved to install Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the country’s 31st prime minister, two days after the Constitutional Court removed her predecessor from office.
Shinawatra, who is currently 37 years old, is both the youngest person to have been elected in the position and the second female prime minister in Thailand’s history.
The breakdown of votes are as follows: 319 were in favor, 145 were against, 27 abstained, while 2 members were absent during the assembly.
She is also notably the third Shinawatra to be in the said position, following the footsteps of her father Thaksin Shinawatra and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra.
Although, both her father and her aunt were deposed in separate coup d’état that occurred in 2006 and 2014, respectively.
Prior to being elected as the new prime minister by the parliament on Friday morning, Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party had earlier secured approval from the coalition to appoint her as Srettha Thavisin’s successor.
The youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, she entered politics in 2021 after formally joining Pheu Thai party as a director for one of its committees.
In the 2023 general elections, she became one of the main figures touted to become the next prime minister of the country, alongside former PM Srettha Thavisin and Chaikasem Nitisiri.
Later that year, Paetongtarn Shinawatra was appointed as deputy chairperson of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee formed under Thavisin’s government.