Thailand ‘needs to be fixed’ and Pheu Thai is the one to do it, says Thaksin’s daughter
- Paetongtarn Shinawatra says she’s confident of a landslide election win for her party and is ‘100 per cent ready’ to be a nominee for prime minister
- Widespread public discontent stemming from the high cost of living and household debt will power Pheu Thai’s return to power, she says
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, bidding to follow in the footsteps of her father and aunt in becoming Thai prime minister, is confident her party can achieve a landslide victory at the next elections with better policies to ease the burden of voters.
The 36-year-old daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra is widely seen as the Pheu Thai opposition party’s top potential candidate for the premiership, alongside property tycoon Srettha Thavisin. She has been leading her party’s outreach programme ahead of elections slated for May and said she’s “100 per cent ready” to be one of the party’s three nominees.
“Right now the country needs to be fixed, it needs better policies and people need to have a better life,” Paetongtarn said in an interview while campaigning in the northeastern province of Nong Khai on Saturday. “They have suffered for eight years and I think they have suffered long enough. Our party is ready and is capable of helping people.”
The Shinawatra clan’s dominance of Thai politics has helped Paetongtarn emerge as the most popular choice for prime minister in recent surveys. Opinion polls are also showing Pheu Thai as the party likely to win the most seats in the next elections.
Paetongtarn said widespread public discontent stemming from the high cost of living and household debt will power her Pheu Thai party’s return to power after eight years of a military-backed government led by Prayuth Chan-ocha.
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Parties affiliated with the Shinawatra clan have won the most seats in every Thai general election over the past two decades with farmers forming its core support base. The parties had introduced crop price support measures and insurance plans for farmers in the past that’s helped it remain popular among voters.
Thaksin, who now lives in exile in Dubai, is a polarising figure with his supporters in the past often clashing with backers of royalist military establishment. Paetongtarn believes the country has largely moved on from such divisive politics.
“Right now it’s about people wanting to make this country a better place,” she said. “We are the real hope for them.”
Though Paetongtarn is confident of Pheu Thai securing a landslide, the path to forming a government is far from guaranteed.
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Prayuth was also on the campaign trail on Saturday in the southern Chumporn province, the first with his new party. He told supporters his government has done more for Thailand than any of its predecessors and promised to go further if he returns to power. “I’ll continue my work to the best of my abilities, if I get the chance,” he said.
For now, Paetongtarn says she and her party are “100 per cent confident” about winning enough seats to form a government of its own without the need to form a coalition.
“We are aiming for the landslide and we are very positive about that,” she said.
