Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Thailand's youngest Prime Minister

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, youngest Thai Prime Minister, continues family legacy in turbulent political landscape.

On the campaign trail in rural Thailand last year, Paetongtarn Shinawatra reminded voters of her influential billionaire family's legacy of populism in what was her electoral debut.

The 37-year-old, who spent weeks at the hustings while visibly pregnant, delivered mixed results. Her Pheu Thai party came only in second in 2023's election but cobbled together a ruling coalition after the vote-winner was blocked by military-backed lawmakers.

Now, the daughter of the country's most divisive but enduring politician, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will take the office her father and aunt once occupied, underlining her family's central place in Thai politics.

On Friday, some 48 hours after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by a court order, Ms. Paetongtarn secured the parliamentary support required to replace him.

With that win, Ms.. Paetongtarn will become the youngest Thai Prime Minister and only the second woman to occupy the position, after her aunt Yingluck.

She will also seek to beat another recurring theme for the Shinawatra family: The governments led by her father and aunt were toppled by the military in 2006 and 2014, respectively.

"The country has to move ahead," Ms. Paetongtarn, the youngest of Thaksin's three children, told reporters after winning Pheu Thai's nomination on Thursday.