Thailand's political situation is a "three-way race". Why was Petunthan elected successfully?
2024-08-17
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
The lower house of the Thai parliament held a special meeting on August 16 to vote on the candidate for prime minister. Pheu Thai Party leader Petunthan Shinawatra won more than half of the votes and was successfully elected.
At 37, she will become the second female prime minister of Thailand after Yingluck Shinawatra, and also the youngest prime minister. According to relevant procedures, Petunthan will officially take up the post of prime minister after the approval of the King of Thailand.
Petunthan's rise to power was largely due to the political reputation of the Shinawatra family behind him. However, due to the fierce political game in Thailand, the power of the Shinawatra family was often overthrown, and they had to go into exile abroad or even go to jail.
In 2001, Thaksin Shinawatra, a wealthy businessman, led the Thai Rak Thai Party, the predecessor of the Pheu Thai Party, to win the general election with an overwhelming advantage and became the Prime Minister of Thailand. In 2006, during his second term, the Thai military launched a coup to overthrow Thaksin's government, and Thaksin went into exile abroad for 15 years.
In September 2008, Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai was elected prime minister, but was forced to step down just three months later after the Constitutional Court ruled that there was election fraud.
In 2011, Thaksin's sister Yingluck led the Pheu Thai Party to win the general election and became the first female prime minister of Thailand. In 2014, Yingluck was dismissed from the prime ministership by the court for dereliction of duty because of the multi-billion dollar rice purchase plan during her tenure, which caused the Thai government to suffer a loss of nearly 300 billion baht.
The dismissal of Setha was also interpreted by some public opinion as a crackdown by conservative and military forces on Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party. In this case, why was Petunthan successfully elected?
Kankan News Reporter: Fang Liang, Li Yao
Editor: Shi Ruigang
Editor: Zhao Xin
