BANGKOK: Right-wing Thai tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul was confirmed on Friday by parliament as the nation’s next prime minister, ousting the dominant populist Shinawatra dynasty.

The Shinawatras have been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades, sparring with the pro-monarchy, pro-military establishment that views them as a threat to traditional social order.

Click to see more

Their Pheu Thai party has monopolised the top office since 2023 elections, but they have been bedevilled by a series of setbacks and a court ruling that resulted in dynasty heiress Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s sacking as prime minister last week.

Construction magnate Anutin Charnvirakul rushed into the power vacuum, cobbling together a coalition of opposition blocs to shut out Pheu Thai.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the dynasty patriarch, flew out of the kingdom in the hours ahead of Friday’s vote and was bound for Dubai, where he said he would visit friends and seek medical treatment.

Anutin won 311 votes, securing a comfortable majority of the 492 MPs in the National Assembly, official final results showed — comfortably outstripping Pheu Thai’s candidate.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2025