Deutsche Welle :
Billionaire heiress Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Friday is set to be Thailand’s youngest-ever prime minister after having received the backing of a majority of lawmakers in the country’s parliament.
Shinawatra is the 37-year-old daughter of billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the niece of another former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. She has never held elected office before.
The Pheu Thai party selected her as its candidate after a court sacked Premier Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday for appointing a cabinet member with a criminal conviction.
Pheu Thai and its partners hold 314 seats in parliament and Paetongtarn needed the backing of more than half of the current 493 lawmakers to become prime minister.
The Shinawatra family has held significant sway over Thailand’s politics and economy for decades, at times locking horns with the influential establishment and the royalist military.