Thailand's Pheu Thai party to decide PM candidate as parliamentary vote looms

15/8/2024 11:48

        The biggest party in Thailand's caretaker government will meet on Thursday to choose a successor for dismissed former premier Srettha Thavisin, as it races to shore up its alliance a day ahead of a pivotal parliamentary vote on a new prime minister.
        
        Thailand is again gripped by political drama less than a year after real estate mogul Srettha rose to power following weeks of parliamentary deadlock, with his Pheu Thai Party scrambling to retain control and deliver on its stalled populist agenda amid a stuttering economy.
        
        The Constitutional Court's dismissal of Srettha on Wednesday was the latest hammer blow for Pheu Thai, the electoral juggernaut of the billionaire Shinawatra family that has locked horns for two decades with Thailand's influential establishment and royalist military.
        
        Pheu Thai must choose one of two eligible candidates - Chaikasem Nitisiri, a former attorney-general and justice minister, and its inexperienced leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter of divisive political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra.
        
        Srettha was the movement's fourth premier to be removed by a court ruling and his downfall could indicate the end of an uneasy detente between Thaksin and his enemies in the conservative elite and military old guard, which had enabled the tycoon's return from self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become premier the same day.