Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra watches Ice Hockey – Men’s Preliminary Round – Group A match between China and Thailand on day 1 of the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025 at Harbin Ice Hockey Arena on February 7, 2025 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province of China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra survived a no-confidence vote today, after the country’s main opposition reportedly accused her of being unqualified and allowing her father to wield influence over her administration.
The opposition People’s Party said she was taking direction from her powerful father Thaksin Shinawatra, who was Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 to 2006.
Paetongtarn is also the niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, who was Thai prime minister from 2011 to 2014 before she was removed in a coup.
In the censure debate on Tuesday, opposition MPs reportedly questioned the prime minister’s knowledge gaps and accused her of avoiding questions from reporters.
Paetongtarn was also reportedly accused of failures over the economy and national security, as well as tax evasion.
Her ruling coalition currently holds 322 seats in the 500-seat National Assembly, with the opposition currently holding 177 seats.
Paetongtarn was expected to survive the vote, with an analysis paper by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore on March 24 saying that the opposition does not have enough votes to remove her.
The motion also comes at a time where public confidence in her government has been low.
A poll by Thailand’s National Institute of Development in February revealed that just 45.12% of respondents were satisfied with Paetongtarn’s first six months in office.
Public confidence in her coalition government’s capability to resolve national problems is even lower, at only 38.55%.
Thailand’s full year GDP growth for 2024 came in at 2.5%, the weakest among the ASEAN-6 countries, according to McKinsey, while the country’s SET index has plunged over 15% year to date.
The ASEAN-6 countries refer to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
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