Paetongtarn Shinawatra
Prime Minister of Thailand since 2024 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Paetongtarn Shinawatra RThBh (Thai: แพทองธาร ชินวัตร; RTGS: Phaethongthan Chinnawat; born 21 August 1986) is a Thai politician and businesswoman. She has been the 31st and current Prime Minister of Thailand since 2024 and as leader of the Pheu Thai Party since 2023. She is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra (prime minister from 2001 to 2006) and the niece of Yingluck Shinawatra (prime minister from 2011 to 2014).[2][3] In June 2025, she made herself Minister of Culture.
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Shinawatra is the youngest person in Thai history to become prime minister and the second woman to hold the position.[4]
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Early life
Paetongtarn was born on 21 August 1986 in Bangkok. Her father is Thaksin Shinawatra and her mother is Potjaman Na Pombejra. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology from the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University in 2008 and continued her studies in England at the University of Surrey.[5]
Premiership
After the removal of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin as prime minister by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on 14 August 2024, Paetongtarn was nominated by Pheu Thai to replace him.[6] Her nomination was approved by parliament on 16 August.[7] She became the youngest person and the second woman to become Prime Minister of Thailand.[8]
2025 leak and suspension
On 15 June 2025, Shinawatra had a 17-minute private phone call with Cambodian Senate President and former Prime Minister Hun Sen to talk about a peaceful solution to the 2025 Cambodian–Thai border crisis.[9] Three days later, a 9 minute audio recording of the call was leaked.[10] Later that day, Hun Sen confirmed he had recorded the full conversation and posted it on his Facebook page.[11][12] During the phone call, Paetongtarn called Hun Sen as "uncle" since Hun Sen is a longtime friend of her father, Thaksin. Paetongtarn then asked Hun Sen to "please have some sympathy for [his] niece" and that she will take care of anything he needed.[13]
After the leak, Paetongtarn was criticized throughout the country.[14] It led to the resignation of the Bhumjaithai Party from the governing coalition, causing 2025 Thai political crisis.[15]
She was suspended from office by the Constitutional Court on 1 July 2025, and the deputy prime minister, Suriya Juangroongruangkit, took over as Thailand's acting leader.[16][17] Another source said (July 2) that she now has [an extra job in the Cabinet, or] the dual role of minister for culture"; Furthermore, she got (June 30) "royal approval of her new cabinet" [in which another person is the acting prime minister, as of the first week of July]; Furthermore, she is temporarily[18] suspended [from the prime minister post].
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Personal life
Shinawatra married businessman Pitaka Suksawat in 2019. They have two children.[19]
Notes
- Suspended by the Constitutional Court from 1 July 2025; Phumtham Wechayachai serving as acting Prime Minister during the suspension.
References
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