Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s leading prime ministerial contender, gave birth to a child on Monday, two weeks before elections in which she aspires to restore the populist movement her father and aunt headed before army coups.
Paetongtarn, 36, announced the birth on her official Facebook and Instagram profiles with a photo of the infant.
“Hi, my name is Prutthasin Sooksawas, nickname Thasin,” the message stated. Thank you. Wait till my mother recovers before seeing the reporters.”
Paetongtarn, known as Ung Ing, has alternated with Pita Limjaroenrat of the progressive opposition Move Forward Party as voters’ preferred prime ministerial candidate during the May 14 campaign.
Paetongtarn campaigned till recently despite her second child’s impending birth.
Her family’s fame and her party’s continued electoral success might bring it back to power.
Recent surveys show opposition parties with large leads might threaten incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who took power in a 2014 coup that overthrew Paetongtarn’s aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn’s father, was overthrown in a 2006 military coup. Thaksin and Yingluck live in self-imposed exile to avoid prison sentences that friends claim were meant to prevent political comebacks.
After the 2019 elections, Prayuth, a civilian prime minister, placed fourth in a mid-April poll for a favorite prime ministerial candidate with 13.72%.
The 250-seat Senate, whose members were appointed by Prayuth’s five-year military dictatorship, may aid him.
If the Senate votes with minority parties, the head of the 500-seat elected lower house may not become prime minister.
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