Real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin wins vote to become Thai’s 30th PM

Bangkok: Srettha from the populist Pheu Thai party secured enough votes in parliament to become the country’s 30th prime minister on Tuesday.

While the vote was still ongoing, his supporters celebrated an end to months of post-election uncertainty in which the winning progressive Move Forward Party was blocked from taking power by conservative senators.

Srettha, a real estate tycoon, will lead a coalition of 11 parties assembled by Pheu Thai that includes two pro-military parties affiliated with outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Move Forward was excluded from the coalition. Critics called the new government a betrayal of the election results, but Pheu Thai leaders defended it as a necessity for ending the political deadlock and creating reconciliation.

The vote came hours after former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began an eight-year prison sentence after returning from years of self-imposed exile.

Many have speculated that the party embraced its former enemies in an effort to reduce or cancel Thaksin’s prison sentence, something the party denies.

Hundreds of people gathered outside of the airport hours ahead of Thaksin’s 9 am arrival, donning red clothes and holding sign with welcoming messages. They sang and chanted in anticipation, then raised a raucous cheer when he appeared at the terminal door.

“I feel fulfilled that I travelled here today to pick him up. If possible I want to hug him. Everyone

has tears, tears coming out of their eyes,” said Makawan Payakkae, a 43-year-old from Maha Sarakham province, in Thailand’s northeast.

Pheu Thai has been heavily criticised by some supporters for backtracking on a pre-election pledge not to work with pro-military parties, and many have speculated that the party embraced its former enemies in an effort to reduce or cancel Thaksin’s prison sentence, something the party denies.

Thaksin and parties backed by him struggled with the military for years. Thaksin left Thailand 15 years ago, following a 2006 coup that cut short his second term as prime minister and sparked years of upheaval. A Pheu Thai government led by Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted in 2014 by then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is now the outgoing prime

minister after voters largely rejected military-linked parties in May.

Pheu Thai came in second in the elections, but got a chance to form

a government after the surprise winner Move Forward Party was repeatedly rejected by conservative senators appointed by a previous military government.

Move Forward’s reform agenda appealed deeply to many Thais, particularly younger voters who were disenchanted by nearly a decade of military-backed rule, but was seen as a threat by the country’s

conservative elites.