Thai political heiress Pathumdan Shinawatra to become youngest prime minister

Vitality and youth

Patongdan, known in Thai as Ung Ing, is the youngest child of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a police officer-turned-telecom tycoon who won two elections in the early 2000s.

Growing up in Bangkok, she experienced Thailand’s turbulent political climate firsthand, as the ambitious Thaksin Shinawatra rose to prominence and founded the Thai Rak Thai Party in 1998.

“When I was eight years old, my father entered politics. From that day on, my life was also intertwined with politics,” she said in a speech in March.

In 2001, Thaksin was elected prime minister and expanded spending on health care, rural development and agricultural subsidies – known as “Thaksinanomics” for the poor.

He was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

After her father was unceremoniously expelled, Petongthan attended university in Thailand, where she describes those years as her toughest, when she was also accused of cheating.

“Sometimes I’d see pictures of my father pinned to the wall, some with scratches out, some with drawings on,” she said in a speech in March.

“When you’re 20, being surrounded by hatred is hard to overcome.”