Srettha Thavisin, 60, a former Thai property tycoon and a PM candidate of the Pheu Thai Party, has become Thailand’s 30th prime minister after gaining a bicameral majority of 482 votes against 165 and 81 abstentions.
He became the second PM candidate to be voted in Parliament after Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward Party, failed to secure the 375 parliamentary votes needed to become PM on July 13 and could not overcome opposition from senators who emerged from the previous coup in the process of renomination on July 19.
Pheu Thai Party has formally announced on August 2 it would nominate Srettha as its PM candidate for the bicameral vote, after the party form a new coalition without Move Forward Party due to the latter’s refusal to withdraw its pledge to amend the lese majeste law.
Srettha and Pheu Thai have been heavily criticised for the pro-junta parties’ inclusion in the coalition led by Pheu Thai, which comprises 314 MPs from 11 parties.
He said on Monday that it’s necessary for him and others to forget about having said that he won’t join a government with either Phalang Pracharath or the United Thai Nation or both as the country’s economic woes.
He was also attacked by whistleblower Chuwit Kamolvisit who accused him of evading tax worth over 500 million in a land purchase deal when he was still president of Sansiri. He later has sued Chuwit for defamation, demanding 500 million baht in compensation.
Days before the vote, Srettha published a clip retaliating against Chuwit, saying that he tried to intimidate him into buying land worth 2 billion baht in exchange for not being targeted, but he refused, and he was ready to bring the evidence to fight the case against Chuwit in court.
He also tweeted, “I would like to emphasise again. My enemy is people’s poverty and inequality. My goal is a better livelihood for all Thai people.”
A family man, A soccer fan
Srettha Thavisin, nicknamed Nid (which means little), was born on February 15, 1963. He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Chulalongkorn University and received his master’s degree in finance from Claremont Graduate School in the United States.
He has been married to Dr. Parkpilai Thavisin, an elderly health care specialist, for over 34 years. Dr. Parkpilai works at VitalLife, a vitality and wellness center, at Bumrungrad Hospital. They have three children together.
Srettha began his career in 1986 as a production assistant at Procter & Gamble Company, where he worked for four years. He then moved to San Samran, the company owned by Apichart Chutrakul, his older siblings and cousins. Later, the company changed its name to Sansiri. In the following years, Srettha held the position of CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the company.
Personally, Settha loves football and supports Liverpool FC. He once paid £10,000 for a UEFA VIP package card, which included accommodation at the Intercontinental Hotel in central Kiev, Ukraine, to watch the Liverpool team play Real Madrid in the 2018 final, which the Madrid team won.
He had contributed to football by developing younger players through the Sansiri Academy since 2006, which provides free training to young people. One of the project’s participants is Thai national team player Chanathip Songkrasin.
Quit Sansiri; Enter Politics
In late 2022, Srettha made the decision to enter politics by becoming a member of Pheu Thai Party. He then officially resigned from his post as CEO on April 4, 2023. He entered the election race focused on winning support through economic policy, which is a major selling point of the Pheu Thai Party.
During his campaign, he introduced the flagship policy of providing digital wallets with a value of 10,000 Baht to people aged 16 and above in an effort to stimulate economic development in the local communities.
Srettha is considered a representative of liberal political ideas, but not too extreme. He has experience in governing, a broad vision and can communicate clearly with the public, including the younger generation. He stresses the importance of addressing the problems of economic and social inequality that need to be solved.
However, he could not resist the popularity of Pita and the Move Forward Party in the May 14 general election. The Pheu Thai Party lost to the Move Forward Party by a margin of 10 seats and a total of 4 million votes.
Pita later has been ordered by the Constitutional Court to stop performing MP duties on July 19, 2023, pending the ruling on whether he lacks the qualifications to be an MP due to his ITV shareholding. As a result, the chances of becoming prime minister shifted to Srettha, who is warmly welcomed by the business community.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the former PM spoke in a video call on his birthday, July 26 at a meeting of Pheu Thai MPs that he was delighted to celebrate his birthday before coming home. He would love to come back to raise his grandchildren and let his daughter, Phaetongtarn, work for the party while Srettha would work at the Government House.
His mention means he is assured that Srettha will become Thailand’s 30th prime minister.
It became true when Thaksin returned to Thailand on August 22, the same day that Srettha was elected by bicameral votes.
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