- Parliament confirms Anutin as PM, which ends Ugelang power vacuum.
- PM receives the support of People’s Party, which has plurality of seats.
- Apex Court due to control on Tuesday over Thaksin’s hospital stays.
Thailand’s next prime minister has promised to do well with his promise to lead the broken temporary government to new votes.
Conservative Tycoon Anutin Charnviracul was confirmed by parliament on Friday and ended a week’s long power vacuum after the radiator of his predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
The construction magnate cobbled a coalition of opposition blocks to close pheu thai, the electoral vehicle for the once dominant Shinawatra dynast’s patriarch Thaksin.
He received support from People’s Party, which has a number of seats, provided he dissolves parliament within four months of fresh elections.
“I want to follow all appointments,” he said Friday outside his party headquarters.
“We have to bring the spirit into ‘smile’ back to our country during my short time in office,” he said, adding that he was known for not liking conflict.
Anutin approached Thaksin’s unexpected flight from the kingdom the night before Friday’s vote – and days before a trial – on his way to Dubai, where he said he would visit friends and seek medical treatment.
“There will be no favorite, no persecution and no revenge,” Anutin said.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will have a decision in a case of Thaksin’s hospital stay after his return from exile in August 2023, a verdict that some analysts say could see him imprisoned.
Anutin’s right-wing Bhumjaithi party went into a coalition with Pheu Thai in 2023, but withdrew in June over Paetongarn’s alleged mismatch in a leaked phone call with the Cambodian ex-leader she sen.
Shinawatras has been a cornerstone of Thai politics in the last two decades, sparring with the pro-monarchy, pro-military establishment that considers them a threat to the traditional social order of the kingdom.
But they have been subjected to a number of setbacks, including PaetongTarn’s removal last week.
Anutin previously served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Health – but is perhaps most famous for delivering a promise to legalize cannabis in 2022.
His height of the Premier League still needs to be approved by Thailand’s king to become official.
