Thai Tycoon Leads Pack As Parliament Votes For New PM

Thailand's parliament is set to vote in a right-wing tycoon as prime minister on Friday, ousting the nation's dominant political dynasty from office after its figurehead was sacked by court order.

The Pheu Thai party of the powerful Shinawatra family has monopolised Thailand's top office since 2023 elections, but dynasty heiress Paetongtarn Shinawatra was sacked as prime minister by a court ruling last week.

Rushing into the power vacuum, construction magnate Anutin Charnvirakul has secured backing from enough opposition blocs to likely give him a comfortable majority in the fractured lower house.

Dynasty patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra flew out of the country in the hours ahead of Friday's parliamentary vote, he said he would "visit friends" and seek medical treatment.

Debating began around 12.30pm (0530 GMT) ahead of the scheduled vote in the parliament building constructed by the family firm of Anutin, who needs the backing of 247 lawmakers to secure the premiership.

"It's normal to feel excited," he told a scrum of reporters as he arrived for the vote.

Anutin, 58, has served as deputy prime minister, interior minister and health minister -- but is perhaps most famous for delivering on a promise in 2022 to legalise cannabis.

Charged with the tourist-dependent kingdom's Covid-19 response, he accused Westerners of spreading the virus and was forced to apologise after a backlash.

The largest opposition bloc, the People's Party, has pledged to back Anutin.

With his Bhumjaithai Party the third largest in parliament, support from a smattering of other allies should give him the numbers to take the helm.

However, the People's Party has made its support conditional on parliament being dissolved for fresh elections within four months.

His elevation to office would nonetheless be another major blow to the Shinawatra clan, which has been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades.

Their populist movement has long jousted with the pro-military, pro-monarchy establishment - but is being increasingly bedevilled by legal and political setbacks.

Dynasty in flight

The Supreme Court is due to rule on Tuesday in a case over Thaksin's hospital stay following his return from exile in August 2023, a decision that could affect the validity of his early release last year.

While his guilt is not the subject of the case, some analysts say the verdict could see him jailed.

Thaksin said on social media he will return from Dubai to attend the court date "in person".

Anutin once backed the Shinawatras' Pheu Thai coalition but abandoned it this summer in apparent outrage over Paetongtarn's conduct during a border row with neighbouring Cambodia.

Thailand's Constitutional Court found on August 29 that she had breached ministerial ethics and fired her after only a year in power.

Pheu Thai is still governing in a caretaker capacity and made a last-ditch effort to forestall Friday's vote by requesting the palace dissolve parliament.

Royal officials rejected the bid, according to acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai, citing "disputed legal issues" around Pheu Thai's ability to make such a move as an interim administration.

With the ballot due, Pheu Thai has pledged to put forward its own candidate for prime minister - Chaikasem Nitisiri, who served as justice minister under a previous Shinawatra prime minister.

"It does not matter if we win or lose the vote," party secretary general Sorawong Thienthong told AFP, striking a fatalistic tone on Thursday.

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