Thailand’s PM candidate front runner Paetongtarn delivers baby two weeks before election

BANGKOK – Front-runner candidate for Thailand’s top post, Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, gave birth to her second child on Monday, two weeks before the country’s May 14 election.

Announcing the news on social media in the morning, the 36-year-old posted a photo of herself, her husband and the baby boy named Prutthasin Sooksawas. The photo looked like it was taken soon after the birth.

“Thank you for all the support, in a few more days when my mother is stronger, I will meet the media,” read the caption.

Ms Paetongtarn, the youngest daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has been consistently

leading opinion polls as the voters’ favourite candidate for the premiership.

One of three people nominated by main opposition party Pheu Thai to become prime minister, she has been spearheading the party’s campaign charge in provinces throughout Thailand, even late into her pregnancy.

It was only in April that she limited her in-person campaign appearances to rallies in and around Bangkok, and attended events in farther-out provinces through videoconference calls.

On Monday, ousted premier Thaksin, who has been living overseas in self-exile since 2008, also posted on social media.

“This morning, I am very happy to have my seventh grandchild, a boy,” he wrote, adding that all of them were born while he was living abroad.

“I should ask for permission to return home to take care of my grandchildren,” he said, noting that he will be turning 74 in July and would like to help take care of them.

Ms Paetongtarn’s entry into politics in late 2021 and appointment as the head of Pheu Thai have sparked rumours of Thaksin’s possible return to Thailand.

Most recently, Thaksin said he was willing to serve his prison term to return home.

Should she become prime minister, Ms Paetongtarn will become Thailand’s youngest prime minister and also the latest Shinawatra family member to take the country’s top job.

Her father and aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, took the post in 2001 and 2011 respectively.

Both their administrations were ousted in coups in 2006 and 2014, and they now live abroad to avoid facing criminal charges in Thailand.

Ms Paetongtarn is the youngest of three children born to Thaksin and his then wife Potjaman Na Pombejra.

Before her bid to become prime minister, Ms Paetongtarn was deputy chief executive officer at family-owned hospitality firm Rende Development, which owns hotels and golf courses.

Her husband Pidok Sooksawas is a commercial airline pilot, and they also have a two-year-old daughter.

Also on the Pheu Thai Party’s ballot for prime minister is property development tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, and party strategist Chaikasem Nitisiri, 74, who have been pounding the campaign trail in recent weeks.

The Pheu Thai Party, an offshoot of Thaksin’s defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, has been enjoying considerable success in popularity polls and is expected to win the most seats in the coming election.

The party has set its sights on bagging at least 310 of the 500 Parliament seats up for grabs in the election.

They hope to overpower the influence of Thailand’s 250-member junta-elected Senate, which will join the elected MPs in selecting the prime minister.

A candidate must win more than half of the 750-parliamentary vote to become prime minister.

The election is set to be a showdown mainly between the conservative military-backed establishment, most notably incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s United Thai Nation Party, and the more progressive groups that oppose military coups, like the Pheu Thai Party.