Anutin Charnvirakul becomes Thailand's new prime minister after royal endorsement

Bangkok | Anutin Charnvirakul, a veteran politician best known for successfully lobbying to decriminalise cannabis in Thailand, became the country's prime minister after receiving a royal endorsement Sunday, two days after he was chosen by Parliament following a court order that removed his predecessor.

Anutin, 58, succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party, dismissed last week after being found guilty of ethics violations over a politically compromising phone call with neighbouring Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen before a border dispute between the two nations turned into a deadly five-day armed conflict in July that raised fears of a full-blown war in the region.

Thailand's new prime minister had served in Paetongtarn's Cabinet as a deputy prime minister and an interior minister, but resigned his positions and withdrew his party from her coalition government after news of the leaked phone call caused public uproar.

Anutin received the letter of appointment in a ceremony at his party Bhumjaithai's headquarters in Bangkok, attended by senior members of parties expected to join his coalition government. They wore white civil servants' uniforms used for royal and state ceremonies.

“I'd like to take an oath that I determine to perform my duties to my fullest capabilities, with honesty and virtue,” he read out a statement after receiving the endorsement.

Anutin successfully petitioned for the decriminalisation of cannabis, a policy that is now being more strictly regulated for medical purposes. He was also a health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was accused of tardiness in obtaining vaccine supplies.

He won the vote in Parliament on Friday with support from the main opposition People's Party. In exchange for their votes, Anutin has promised to dissolve Parliament within four months and organise a referendum on the drafting of a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly.

The People's Party said it would remain part of the opposition, leaving the new government potentially a minority one. The party, which runs on progressive platforms, has long sought changes to the constitution, imposed during a military government, saying they want to make it more democratic.

Anutin became the third prime minister of Thailand in two years after the 2023 general elections.

The People's Party, then named the Move Forward Party, won the most seats but was kept from power when military-appointed senators, who were strong supporters of Thailand's royalist conservative establishment, voted against the party's candidate because they opposed its policy seeking reforms to the monarchy.

The Senate no longer holds the right to take part in the vote to elect a prime minister.

The Pheu Thai Party, which at the time came second in the elections, later had one of its candidates, real estate executive Srettha Thavisin, approved as prime minister to lead a coalition government. But he served just a year before the Constitutional Court dismissed him from office for ethical violations.

Srettha's replacement, Paetongtarn, the daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, also lasted just a year in office. Her government was already greatly weakened when the Bhumjaithai Party abandoned her coalition in June.

Pheu Thai said after Anutin won the vote that it would become an opposition party.