What to know about Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s new and youngest prime minister

BANGKOK - Thailand’s new prime minister is a scion of the country’s influential Shinawatra clan and the youngest person to assume the post, as she looks to bring stability after her predecessor was ousted by a court citing ethics violations.

Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, is the

second woman to serve as Thailand’s prime minister

and she follows two former prime ministers from her family.

Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, her billionaire father who was in the post from 2001 to 2006 before being pushed out in a military coup,

returned to Thailand from 15 years of self-imposed exile in 2023

and is expected now to play a bigger role in Thai politics. 

Some of her top tasks will be to ease the concerns of voters about the high costs of living and foreign investors worried about Thailand’s turbulent politics.

Here’s what you need to know about her.

Who is Ms Paetongtarn?

Known by her nickname Ing, she is the youngest daughter of Mr Thaksin Shinawatra, the patriarch of the political dynasty that has dominated most Thai elections since the turn of the century.

Ms Paetongtarn studied political science at Thailand’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University and later received a master’s degree in international hotel management from University of Surrey in Britain. At 17, she made headlines when she worked a part-time job at McDonald’s and her father dropped in. 

She is married to Mr Pidok Sooksawas, a commercial pilot. The couple have two children, including a baby boy who Ms Paetongtarn gave birth to when she was on the campaign trail for the 2023 election.

What did she do before politics?

Most of Ms Paetongtarn’s professional experience from 2011 until entering politics has been with the Shinawatra family’s business empire, which spans a golf course and firms in the real estate, hospitality and telecommunications sectors.

She was until earlier this year listed as chief executive officer of the hotel business of Rende Development, which is run by her sister, Ms Pintongta Shinawatra Kunakornwong, and cites the luxurious Rosewood Hotel in Bangkok as a major project. 

Currently, she is the largest shareholder of publicly traded property firm SC Asset Corporation Pcl, with a 28.5 per cent stake worth about 5.2 billion baht (S$196 million), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Before taking the post of prime minister, Ms Paetongtarn will need to relinquish her business roles and comply with share ownership rules, according to Thai laws. 

How did she become a player in politics?

Ms Paetongtarn has had a front-row seat to Mr Thaksin’s career.

At eight, she tagged along with her father on his first government job as foreign minister. At 20, she hunkered down in a safe house when military tanks patrolled Bangkok’s streets as the army seized power from him. Two years later, she watched as her father left Thailand to avoid a corruption conviction he said was politically motivated. 

Ms Paetongtarn formally started her political career when she joined Pheu Thai in 2021 as a director of the party’s innovation and inclusiveness committee.

Two years later, she

fronted Pheu Thai’s pre-election campaign

and ran as one of its three prime ministerial candidates, pledging to end nearly a decade-long rule by the military-aligned administrations helmed by Mr Prayut Chan-o-cha. 

She had vowed to end a cycle of coups against her family – Mr Thaksin was ousted in 2006 and Ms Yingluck’s government toppled in 2014 – as the Shinawatras were seen as a threat for more than a decade by royalist elites who control some of the nation’s most powerful institutions and businesses.  

Ironically, now she is reliant on the pro-royalist conservatives with which Pheu Thai formed a government. Mr Thaksin cut a deal in 2023 to return to Thailand after more than a decade in exile while facing corruption charges.

What will be her administration’s key policies?

As Ms Paetongtarn’s victory helped Pheu Thai secure its leadership of the new government, this signals few changes to policies pursued by Mr Srettha’s administration.

Her government is likely to focus on bolstering growth through looser fiscal policies as well as tackling the high cost of living and near-record household debt. She’s advocated for lower interest rates and slammed the central bank, saying its autonomy posed an “obstacle” to resolving the country’s economic issues.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether the change in leadership would provide a convenient pretext for her government

to abandon a US$14 billion (S$18.4 billion) digital wallet cash handout programme.

It was a flagship campaign promise of the Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party and the centerpiece of Mr Srettha’s push to help the economy grow annually at 5 per cent like many of its South-east Asian neighbours. 

When asked about it by reporters on the eve of her nomination, Ms Paetongtarn only said she would review the programme after she took power. BLOOMBERG