Nearly three weeks after Paetongtarn Shinawatra was named Prime Minister, the new cabinet lineup, from seven parties and one political faction, has been finalised amid criticism of nepotism. More than half are holdovers from the previous administration.

The new cabinet lineup was finalized on Wednesday (4 September). Among 12 new faces, 8 are women. 23 members previously held ministerial office under the Srettha Thavisin administration.

After kicking out its former coalition partner the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), led by the former military junta leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, the Pheu Thai Party sought support from its former rival the Democrat Party. The coalition government now consists of seven parties – Pheu Thai, Bhumjaithai, United Thai Nation, Democrat, Chart Thai Pattana and Prachachat - and one faction, led by Thamanat Prompow from the PPRP.

The Pheu Thai Party has taken 20 seats: Defence, Transport, Finance, Tourism and Sports, Public Health, Digital Economy and Society, Culture, Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Deputy Transport Minister, two Deputy Finance Ministers, a Deputy Interior Minister, and two Ministers Attached to the PM’s Office.

The Bhumjaithai Party gets 8 seats: Interior, two Deputy Interior Ministers, Labour, Higher Education, Education, a Deputy Education Minister, and a Deputy Commerce Minister.

The United Thai Nation Party has 4 seats: Energy, Industry, Deputy Commerce Minister, and Deputy Defence Minister.

Thamanat’s faction has 3 seats: Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, and two Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministers. The Democrat Party has 2 seats: National Resources and Environment, and a Deputy Health Minister. The Chart Thai Pattana Party retains the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, while the Prachachat Party similarly retains the Justice Ministry.

The new cabinet swore allegiance to the King on Friday evening (6 September), while the policy statement is expected to be delivered to parliament next week.

Dynastic cabinet

Appointing this cabinet took around three weeks after Paetongtarn was named Prime Minister and was seen as a daunting task after the Constitutional Court’s ruling to dismiss Paetongtarn’s predecessor, Srettha, for appointing to his cabinet a minister with a prior criminal conviction.

Background checks were thorough and intensive. Some ministers from the last cabinet who have faced serious charges were ruled out to save Paetongtarn from the same fate as her predecessor. But de facto power remained with the delisted former cabinet members who simply passed on their cabinet positions to family members.

Because of these subterfuges, the opposition party dubbed this cabinet the Musical Chairs Cabinet or Family Cabinet. The Prime Minister herself comes from a political dynasty where three of her family members have been prime minister, and many of her cabinet members share similar backgrounds.

One case involves former Deputy Interior Minister Chada Thaised who nominated his daughter, Sabeeda Thaised, to replace him due to concerns over his controversial background. Her aunt, Mananya Thaised, was also a Deputy Agriculture Minister under Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha from 2019 to 2023.

Artthakorn Sirilatthayakorn, a Deputy Agriculture Minister under the previous administration, has been replaced by his father, Itthi Sirilatthayakorn.

Former Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow is out of the Cabinet, but his younger brother Akara Prompow becomes a Deputy Agriculture Minister. This pre-empts any ethical challenge over Thamanat’s 4 years in prison in Australia for drug smuggling.

The Chidchob family is one of the most influential regional political powerhouses. Newin Chidchob was PM Office Minister under the Thaksin Shinawatra administration during 2005-2006 and is described in Wikipedia as the ‘de facto’ leader of the Bhumjaithai Party. His elder brother, Saksayam Chidchob, was Transport Minister from 2019 to 2023 before being disqualified by the Constitutional Court over asset concealment. Former Police General Permpoon Chidchob, Newin’s younger brother, was Education Minister under the Srettha administration despite having no experience or expertise in education, and has kept his job under Paetongtarn.

Akanat Promphan, stepson of former Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban, with whom he led the yellow-shirt People’s Democratic Reform Committee protests that led to the demise of the Pheu Thai government of Yingluck Shinawatra, is appointed Industry Minister.

In response to criticism over cabinet nepotism, Paetongtarn said people should focus on determination, noting that being part of a certain family was not a disadvantage, but rather a motivation for those in the same family. She remarked that everyone has the right to criticise, but it should be based on reason, not emotion.

Unstoppable storm

The government under Paetongtarn is still under close scrutiny. In recent weeks, an array of complaints have been filed against the PM and the Pheu Thai Party. According to a PPTV report, six complaints have been filed with more possibly to come.

Serial petitioner Ruangkrai Leekitwattana of the newly rejected Palang Pracharath Party filed 3 complaints. The first two concern Paetongtarn’s duties as a member of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee, where she is accused of violating the Organic Act on Anti-Corruption. She also faces a third complaint over the timing of her resignation from 20 companies, most of which are located outside Bangkok. Her resignation letters were submitted on 15 August, just one day before parliament elected her to be PM, but not immediately registered by the authorities. Asked her to prove that she had resigned before becoming PM, she refused.

The other three complaints are anonymous. One puts at risk the Pheu Thai Pary and its executive board by accusing it of allowing former PM Thaksin, who is not a Party member, to dominate the party, as the Constitutional Court ruling stated that Thaksin suggested Srettha appoint Pichit Chuenban to the Cabinet. A case was also filed to dismiss Paetongtarn, who was on the party’s executive board, for allowing Srettha to appoint Pichit.

Further cases could be brought against Paetongtarn, including a scandal that claims she was given leaked university entrance exam papers and a long-standing land dispute over Alpine Golf and Sport Club which occupies land that was initially donated in order to benefit a temple but was later turned into a golf course and sold to the Shinawatra family in 1997. An investigation at the time led to then Acting Interior Permanent Secretary and later Pheu Thai Party leader Yongyuth Wichaidit being jailed for two years for his role in the deal. The issue resurfaced after Paetongtarn was elected PM when it was reported that as of 30 April, she holds 30% of the shares.

Deep wound inflicted on PPRP

In recent weeks, the PPRP itself has split into two factions, after Gen Prawit and PPRP Secretary-General Thamanat disagreed over who should be nominated as cabinet ministers within the PPRP quota, causing a delay in appointing the new Cabinet as both factions claimed they had submitted their own lists of candidates.

The Pheu Thai decided to kick the PPRP out, supposedly over dissatisfaction with the actions of PPRP leader Gen Prawit, who failed to attend the parliamentary session where Paetongtarn was named Prime Minister on 16 August after also failing to show up to vote for Srettha Thavisin as PM last year. It is also widely speculated that he was behind the petition by 40 former senators to dismiss former PM Srettha. However, the Pheu Thai Party decided to keep Thamanat’s faction.

On Thursday (5 September), Thai PBS reported that Thamanat and five other MPs had submitted letters of resignation from the Party’s executive board to the Election Commission (EC) on 20 August, saying they would no longer engage in Party activities. When asked if he had informed the Party that he would not attend the Executive Board meeting on 6 September, Thamanat admitted he had not informed the party but had informed the EC.

To maintain their  status as MPs, Thamanat and his faction cannot resign from the PPRP. According to the law, to be able to join another party and continue as MPs, Thamanat’s faction would have to be expelled by the Party, or the Party must be dissolved. Thamanat revealed that he is looking into possible ways to leave the PPRP without losing his MP status.

The PPRP held a meeting on 6 September to select a new Executive Board following the six members’ resignations. Buddhist nationalist Paiboon Nititawan, whose own People Reform Party was dissolved after one year in 2019 after miserable election results, was selected to replace Thamanat. The party leader Gen Prawit reiterated that there would no internal rifts in the party from now on. When asked about Thamanat’s fate, Prawit said it was Thamanat’s business, telling reporters should ask Thamanat himself.

the conflict between the Pheu Thai Party and Prawit is speculated to erupt into lawfare against the Paetongtarn government, as Prawit is still considered an influential figure in military and royalist circles with several cards still to play.