Who Is Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s new PM?

Thailand’s Parliament on Friday chose Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, to become the country’s prime minister, elevating a candidate with no governing experience to the leadership of a nation in profound political turmoil.

Here is what to know:

Heir to a Powerful Political Dynasty

Paetongtarn, also known by her nickname, Ung Ing, is the third and youngest child of tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, 75, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006. The political parties he founded, including the Pheu Thai party his daughter now represents, consistently won elections. He was removed in a coup but has wielded influence, even while living in exile to escape corruption charges.

Paetongtarn’s uncle-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, was also removed as prime minister in 2008 when the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of his party.

Her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, 57, is a former prime minister who has faced the same fate. A younger sister of Thaksin, she became prime minister in 2011, was removed in a coup in 2014, and fled the country in 2017 to avoid criminal negligence charges.

Background and Education

As a child, Paetongtarn shadowed her father while he campaigned and played golf. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University, one of Thailand’s top schools, with a degree in political science. She studied international hotel management at the University of Surrey in England.

She was 20 when she witnessed the Thai army’s coup against her father. She helped lead a family-run hotel management company. And then she was drafted into politics last year, joining the populist Pheu Thai party and becoming a front-runner candidate for prime minister. The campaign fell during the last trimester of her pregnancy with her second child.

“My passion is a hotel,” she said in an interview in March 2022. “But after having a child, my thinking changed,” she added. “I want to make the country livable for my children.”

Her Leap to Center Stage

Paetongtarn’s rise has kindled a nostalgia for the legacy of her family among its supporters. Among critics, it has also fueled condemnation of its past scandals and questions about her credentials besides her family name.

“I have a solid team — a team that once was a government, once served the people, once pushed policies successfully,” she said in an interview in March 2023. “That made me dare to say that I am ready.”

Despite her influential family ties, many, including party insiders, considered her unready to lead the nation because of her lack of political experience. Pheu Thai ultimately chose Srettha Thavisin as its candidate. But it later named Paetongtarn as its party leader.

Her Rise to Prime Minister

Pita Limjaroenrat, a politician of the Move Forward Party, won the most votes in the election with a pro-reform agenda that, among other issues, called for changes to a law that made it a crime to criticize the Thai monarchy. But the military-appointed Senate rejected the results, voting not to let him become prime minister. The Constitutional Court also banned his party.

Srettha became prime minister in 2023. But less than a year later, on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court ousted him, finding that he had violated ethics standards. Pheu Thai on Thursday chose Paetongtarn as its candidate to be Srettha’s successor, and she accepted the nomination.

Paetongtarn faces a floundering economy, and as she takes office, she is seen as likely to continue some of Srettha’s economic stances, including advocating for lower interest rates and less autonomy for the central bank.

And hanging over her is the possibility of pressure from the military and its royalist allies. Many accuse them of repeatedly undermining the democratic process, and they have seemingly turned against their recent and uneasy understanding with her father.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.