Thailand's Pheu Thai party has chosen 37-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as its candidate for prime minister. This was announced a day after the court removed the current prime minister in an ethics case, AFP reported.
"We have decided to nominate Paetongtarn Shinawatra," said party secretary-general Sorawong Thienkhong.
Lawmakers will vote on August 16 in parliament - where Pheu Thai heads the ruling coalition - on whether to approve Paetongtarn as prime minister.
The vote comes after Thailand's Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Sreeta Thavisin from office on August 14, ruling that he had broken regulations by appointing a minister with a criminal conviction.
Sreeta is the third prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be ousted by the Constitutional Court, leaving office after less than a year.
Thai politics has experienced two decades of chronic instability, marked by coups, street protests and court orders.
Much of this is fueled by the long-standing battle between the military and the pro-royalist establishment against progressive parties linked to Thaksin. | BGNES
