Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will be nominated as the country’s new prime minister in a parliamentary vote, her party and its coalition partners said Thursday.

The move follows the removal of former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin by court order over an ethical violation a day earlier.

  • @gravitas_deficiency
    link
    English
    71 month ago

    Anyone from Thailand or the general vicinity able to offer more nuance on the governmental happenings lately? I know it’s still a (constitutional?) monarchy, but the stories I’ve seen of late seem to indicate the current king and government are acting in a pretty high-handed fashion.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      81 month ago

      I’m not from Thailand, though my understanding is that a progressive party won the elections (defeating military-backed incumbents), but was prevented from forming government, and then forcibly dissolved, on the grounds of raising the suggestion of relaxing tough laws against criticising the monarchy. Is this more or less right?

      • @gravitas_deficiency
        link
        English
        6
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Yeah, that’s more or less what I’ve seen in articles recently. Also, contextually, I know the previous king was (imo rightly) beloved by most Thais, as he HUGELY improved the average quality of life and did a bunch of modernization, and his son (the current king) is just a vapid playboy asshole who goes through wives like new cars.

  • @xmunk
    link
    English
    31 month ago

    Thailand already has a hereditary monarchy… now the elected government is going to a nepo baby after the actual elected government threatened to slightly limit the outrageous laws about criticizing the monarch.

    This is extremely bad and… are they watching the unrest in Myanmar and feeling jealous? This is how you get a fucking coup.