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This article is reproduced from [China News Network];

The lower house of the Thai parliament voted on the 16th to elect Pheu Thai Party leader Petunthan Shinawatra as the new prime minister of Thailand.

The 37-year-old Petunthong is the youngest daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and her aunt is Yingluck Shinawatra, the first female prime minister of Thailand. Earlier news pointed out that if Petunthong is elected, she will become the second female prime minister in Thai history and the youngest prime minister.

Petongthan graduated from the Department of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, a prestigious university in Thailand, and then went to the UK for further studies. After obtaining a master's degree in hotel management, he began to take over the family's hotel and real estate business.

According to Singapore's Straits Times, Petunthan is currently the largest shareholder of a listed real estate company, holding 28.5% of the shares. She is also the CEO of a hotel business group. However, according to Thai law, before becoming prime minister, Petunthan needs to give up her business role and comply with relevant share ownership rules.

Compared with her business experience, Petuntan’s political resume is not very rich, and she has even been called a "political newcomer" by some media, but she said that she has been exposed to politics since she was a child.

"My father entered politics when I was eight years old. From that day on, my life has been intertwined with politics," Petuntan once said in a speech.

In 2021, Petthorntham officially entered the Thai political arena and became a political adviser to the Pheu Thai Party. In March 2022, the Pheu Thai Party announced the appointment of Petthorntham as the leader of the "Thai Family". Since then, she has often made high-profile appearances at various political events and propaganda rallies, and has also taken to the streets to canvass for votes as one of the prime ministerial candidates of the Pheu Thai Party in the 2023 general election.

In the lower house election held in May 2023, the Pheu Thai Party came in second. However, since the two nominations of Phitsanulok, the leader of the leading Future Progressive Party, were not approved by the parliament, the leadership of the new government was handed over to the Pheu Thai Party. After that, Petunthan became the leader of the Pheu Thai Party and said, "The Pheu Thai Party will continue its important mission of improving people's livelihood."

In August 2024, after Thai Prime Minister Setia was ruled unconstitutional and dismissed, Petunthan was again nominated as the prime ministerial candidate of the Pheu Thai Party and won the special meeting vote held on August 16.

"Pettuntan is a politician in the social media era," Time magazine wrote. She has more than 670,000 followers on the social platform Instagram. There, Pettuntan records the moments of her work and life, and her father Thaksin also appears in the photos from time to time.

"In terms of personal charm, although she has no political experience, she appears to be well prepared in political speeches, and is generous, confident, and flexible. She mingles with the people and is down-to-earth during campaigning activities," said Nantana, dean of the School of Political Communication at Thailand's Kluang University.

In previous rallies, Petunthan had put forward the slogan "dare to think, can do, and serve the people wholeheartedly". Time magazine once said, "Petunthan has ambitious ideas such as revitalizing Thailand's strength and restoring its status as the second largest economy in Southeast Asia."

According to Time magazine, the Pheu Thai Party had previously made promises to increase the daily minimum wage, expand medical insurance coverage, and subsidize public transportation; Petunthan had also boldly promised to build high-speed railways and water storage infrastructure to protect farmers from cyclical droughts and floods.

The Straits Times believes that Petunthan may continue the policies pursued by the Setia government, focusing on boosting economic growth through looser fiscal policies and addressing issues such as high living costs.

After accepting the nomination of the prime ministerial candidate from the Pheu Thai Party and various coalition parties, Petunthan said that he was ready to accept the position, "I will do my best to lead the country out of the economic crisis."