Thailand’s parliament has elected Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the conservative opposition Bhumjaithai party, as the country’s prime minister.
The vote on Friday means Anutin will replace Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, who was dismissed by the Constitutional Court last month over an ethics scandal.
Anutin secured victory over Chaikasem Nitisiri, the candidate of the populist Pheu Thai, with the support of the liberal People’s Party.
That backing from the largest party in the parliament was premised on a promise from Anutin to call a general election within four months.
The Bhumjaithai leader scored a convincing victory, securing 311 votes, far above the 247 required for a majority among the House of Representatives’ 492 active members.
Chaikasem received 152 votes. There were a total of 27 abstentions.
Chalerm Yubamrung, a member of the Pheu Thai Party and former deputy prime minister, surprised by crossing the aisle. Eight of his party colleagues followed suit.
Anutin and his government are expected to take office in a few days, after obtaining a formal appointment from King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Dynastic blow
The victory of the 58-year-old veteran Anutin deals another blow to the Shinawatra clan, which has been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades.
Their populist movement has long jousted with the pro-military, pro-monarchy establishment, but has been increasingly bedevilled by legal and political setbacks.
The dynasty’s patriarch, Thaksin Shinawatra, flew out of Thailand in the hours before Friday’s vote, bound for Dubai.
The Supreme Court is due to rule on Tuesday in a case over Thaksin’s hospital stay following his return from exile in August 2023, a decision that could affect the validity of his early release last year.
While his guilt is not the subject of the case, some analysts say the verdict could see him jailed.
Thaksin said on social media he will return from Dubai to attend the court date “in person”.
Anutin once backed the Pheu Thai coalition, but abandoned it in the summer in apparent outrage over the conduct of Paetongtarn – Thaksin’s daughter and protege – during a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court found on August 29 that she had breached ministerial ethics and fired her after only a year in power.
For now, Pheu Thai is still governing in a caretaker capacity. The party had made a last-ditch effort to forestall Friday’s vote by requesting that the royal palace dissolve parliament.
But royal officials rejected the bid, according to acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, citing “disputed legal issues” around Pheu Thai’s ability to make such a move as an interim administration.
Following the vote, Pheu Thai pledged to reclaim power to deliver on its agenda.
“On all the pending policies, we will return to finish the job for all the Thai people,” it said in a statement on social media, adding it was ready to be in the parliamentary opposition.
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