After weeks of political uncertainty, Srettha Thavisin has secured support from Thailand’s parliament. The real estate mogul represents the populist Pheu Thai Party, which ran against a coalition of military and old-money families that controlled the Thai government for years.
Pheu Thai’s figurehead, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, also returned from a period of criminal exile that began in 2008. Under a friendly government, Thaksin will serve an 8-year sentence in a Thai jail. Thaksin and the Pheu Thai party deny that any deals were made for an early release from jail. Attempts to form a coalition with the previous election winner, the Move Forward party, failed after opposition from conservative and military-aligned lower house members and Senators. Tuesday’s developments mark another turning point in a two-decade battle between Pheu Thai and traditional government actors.
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