Prior to a vote in parliament to confirm him as prime minister, Thailand’s Pheu Thai party on Tuesday formally nominated business magnate Srettha Thavisin.
Srettha is anticipated to win the election and become the helm of a divisive coalition that includes numerous pro-military parties from the former administration.
Tuesday, the day former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned from exile, saw the conclusion of three months of political impasse as Thai parliament confirmed businessman Srettha Thavisin as the country’s new prime minister.
Despite the fact that Srettha’s Pheu Thai party finished second in the May election, the two houses of parliament comfortably confirmed him as the 30th prime minister of Thailand.
According to an AFP vote tally that was live-streamed on Parliament TV, he easily outperformed the 374 votes required for a majority of elected lower house MPs and senators who were not nominated by the previous junta.
314 of the 500 seats in the lower house are controlled by the coalition of about a dozen parties led by Pheu Thai.
But it has stirred controversy by welcoming former foes into the partnership, including the pro-military parties of former coup makers that ousted Pheu Thai’s last prime minister.
The vote came hours after Pheu Thai founder and figurehead Thaksin returned to Thailand for the first time since 2008 and was immediately jailed.
Pheu Thai stepped in to form a government after the reformist Move Forward Party (MFP) — which won the most seats — saw its leader denied the prime minister spot by conservative, pro-military forces.
Srettha, the former head of Thai property giant Sansiri, on Friday vowed to tackle poverty and inequality — and rejected corruption allegations made by an anti-graft whistleblower.
A wave of urban and youth discontent with nearly a decade of military-backed rule carried MFP to a surprise first-place finish in May’s election.
But the party’s pledges to reform royal insult laws and tackle powerful business monopolies saw it run into bitter opposition from the kingdom’s powerful elites.
MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to win enough support from pro-military and royalist senators in a prime minister vote last month and was later suspended from parliament by the Constitutional Court.
