Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the conservative Bhumjaithai Party, has secured a majority of votes from MPs to become Thailand’s 32nd Prime Minister and the third in two years after his predecessor Paetongtarn Shinawatra was ousted by the Constitutional Court last week.

On Friday (5 September), Anutin secured the votes of 311 out of 492 MPs to become the new PM. The last remaining candidate from the Pheu Thai Party, Chaikasem Nitisiri, trailed behind with 152 MP votes.

Bhumjaithai, with 68 MP seats in parliament, had been the second largest party in the government coalition under the administrations former PMs Srettha and Paetongtarn. But it withdrew after the phone call between Paetongtarn and former Cambodian PM Hun Sen was leaked. Bhumjaithai claimed that she brought disgrace to the nation, people, and the military. The leaked call later led to her removal from office.

Anutin’s successful PM bid was backed by the largest party, the People’s Party, to form an interim government on condition that he accepted the People’s Party’s four conditions, which include a promise to dissolve parliament within 4 months, as well as to organise a referendum on constitutional amendments as soon as possible. However, the People’s Party will not be joining the government coalition.

Who is Anutin?

59-year-old Anutin, who has been unequivocal in his desire for the top job, is the oldest son of a former Interior Minister who also founded a construction business, Sino-Thai Engineering. The company built the new parliament building in which the PM vote took place.

The newly elected PM started his political career in 1996 as an advisor to the Foreign Minister. He was later an executive member of the Thai Rak Thai Party and the Deputy Public Health Minister during the administration of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. 

Anutin was disqualified from holding any political position for five years after the Thai Rak Thai Party was dissolved in 2006. He came back to the political arena with the Bhumjaithai Party and was later elected party leader.

Bhumjaithai, formally led by Anutin but with Newin Chidchob as the de facto leader, endorsed former PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to become PM in 2019 and became a part of the government coalition headed by Palang Pracharath. Anutin was made Public Health Minister, and faced a nationwide backlash, particularly from physicians, for his management of the COVID-19 pandemic which he dismissed as merely a type of flu.

In the 2023 general election, Anutin was nominated as the Party’s PM candidate. Bhumjaithai and Anutin personally have affirmed their strong opposition to amending the royal defamation law, and said they would never join a coalition which had such a policy.

The Move Forward Party, predecessor of the People’s Party, won the most seats in the 2023 election but was unable to form a governing coalition, given that several parties opposed its campaign promise to amend the royal defamation law. The second largest party, Pheu Thai, reneged on attempts to form a government with the Move Forward Party, instead joining Bhumjaithai in a coalition with other conservative parties, some of them military-dominated.

There are concerns that Bhumjaithai has been involved in shady deals, such as collusion in the 2024 Senate election, which is currently under investigation. Many speculate that he might end up like his two predecessors and be ousted by the Constitutional Court, or he might use his power as PM to eliminate all legal proceedings against his party.

Pheu Thai’s reaction

After the PM vote, the Pheu Thai Party released a statement, reiterating that it was ready to be an opposition party which upholds democratic principles according to parliamentary norms.

The Party had also not lost hope, adding that they still have several policies which are yet to be fulfilled, and Pheu Thai will await the day it can return to carry them out.