Anutin Charnvirakul is the new Prime Minister of Thailand after having taken a parliamentary vote, to trag the candidate of the once-dominant reigning party of the Shinatra family to end up a week of chaos and political impasse.
With the decisive support of the opposition, Anutin easily passed more than half of the bearing voices that are needed to become prime minister on Friday, striking for days of drama in which he surpassed the most successful political party in the history of Thailand.
Anutin has been a support pillar in Thai politics in the whole years of unrest, who positions his Bhumjaithai party between warring elites that are involved in a stubborn power struggle and guaranteeing his place in a succession of coalition alloys.
His defeat of rival competitor Chaikasem Nitisiri was a humiliation for the prevailing PHEU Thai Party, the once unstoppable populist Juggernaut of influential billionaire Thaksin ShinaWatra.
Anutin led from the start and won 63 percent of the voices, with double the count of chaikasem.
He was harassed by a Falanx of the media when he left the room, his assistants were told a scrum of journalists who screamed and shouted while he slowly touched a waiting car.
“I will work my hardest, every day, not a vacation, because there is not much time,” said Anutin, his face illuminated by Bursts of camera flashes. “We have to relieve problems quickly.”
Thaksin left Thailand on Thursday to Dubai, where he spent most of his 15 years of self -imposed exile to prevent a prison sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest, while he was prime minister from 2001 to 2006.
The crisis of PHEU Thai was activated in June by the withdrawal of Anutin from his alliance, so that the coalition government had retained itself with a razor-thin majority in the midst of protests and falling popularity.
The Hamerslag was the resignation of last week by the Constitutional Court of the daughter of Thaksin and the Protege Paetongtarn Shinatra, the sixth prime minister of or supported by the Shinatra family to be removed by the army or the judiciary.
After a failed attempt to resolve the house to hinder Anutin, PHEU Thai made a new last attempt to undermine his alliance on Thursday, and announced that it would nominate the 77-year-old former Attorney General Chaikasem to dispute the Premier voice, with a promise to call a quick as they are.
Anutin’s victory in Friday’s vote came as a result of a pact with the propressive opposition People’s Party, the greatest strength in parliament that he seduced with a promise to hold a referendum on changing the Constitution and calling an election within four months.
Who is Anutin Charnvirakul?
A political veteran who once led the construction company of his family, 58-year-old Anutin is a former deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Health who served as the Covid-19 Tsar of Thailand.
Anutin is considered an avid royalist as a conservative, although he has made a name for himself by leading a successful campaign to decriminalize cannabis in Thailand.
Anutin will lead a minority government, with which the People’s Party will not participate, and take the helm of a country with an economy struggling with weak consumption, tight lending and rising levels of household debts.
His accelerated rise to premiership was bound by the political settlement of powerful broker Thaksin and the decline of PHEU Thai, who won five of the last six elections, but supported support under the working class that once became populist Giveaways.
Despite the heavy defeat, PHEU Thai promised to return to power and to deliver his agenda.
“We will return to finish the job for all Thai people,” said it.
A decision by the court that Thaksin could see in prison was established for next week.
Thaksin made a famous return home from Dubai in 2023 to carry out an eight-year prison sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest, but on his first night in prison he was transferred to the VIP wing of a hospital on medical grounds.
His sentence was converted by the king into a year and he was released in detention after six months.
The Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday whether Thaksin’s Hospital Stint counts as time is served. If not, it could send him back to prison.
In a post on X, Thaksin said he was in Dubai for a medical check and to see old friends, and he would be back in Thailand to go to court next week.
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