Leading candidate for Thai PM Paetongtarn ‘Ung-Ing’ Shinawatra gives birth to baby boy

The birth of Thasin comes two week’s ahead of Thailand’s May 14 elections, for which the 36-year-old campaigned vigorously despite her pregnancy
Self-exiled father Thaksin, founder of the political dynasty’s hotly tipped Pheu Thai Party, lamented missing the birth of his seventh grandchild

Thailand

Aidan Jones

Published: 12:47pm, 1 May 2023

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Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the most popular candidate running to be Thailand’s next prime minister in elections later this month, has given birth to a baby boy, prompting her billionaire father Thaksin to lament missing the birth of a seventh grandchild during his self-exile overseas.

In a photo shared with her half a million Instagram followers on Monday morning, a smiling Paetongtarn – better known by her nickname ‘Ung Ing’ – and her husband welcomed the birth of Thasin, their second child, and thanked the public for their support.

Before the birth, the 36-year-old had campaigned vigorously for the May 14 polls despite being heavily pregnant, leading the pack in polling for the premiership on behalf of the Pheu Thai Party, her family’s electoral machine.

Pheu Thai is expected to win the most seats in the 500-member lower house in two weeks time.

The election is seen as crucial to whether pro-democracy parties will return to power, or if the generals and their conservative allies – who aimed coups at the civilian governments of Yingluck Shinawatra, Paetongtarn’s aunt, in 2014 and Thaksin in 2006 – will find a way back into office.

Thaksin, a former policeman turned telecoms billionaire, disrupted the elite settlement of Thailand with a 2001 election landslide, winning the hearts of millions of poor Thais with subsidies, virtually free healthcare and village- level grants.

He won a second landslide in 2005 – making him the only elected Thai leader to complete a full term since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932 – but was toppled in a 2006 coup.

Thaksin has lived in self-exile overseas in London and Dubai since 2008 to avoid jail for corruption charges he says were trumped up by his establishment enemies to move him off the political chessboard.

Thai ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra vows to return, face jail time

In a tweet on Monday, seen by a million people, Thaksin said “he was very happy to welcome his seventh grandchild.”

“All of my grandkids were born during the time I have been overseas. Allow me to look after my grandkids soon as I’m turning 74 in July!”

Rumours of Thaksin’s return have stalked Thai politics. His nemesis, junta leader-turned-prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, bristles at the mention of his name.

A bid to drive through an amnesty bill that would have allowed Thaksin back into Thailand without serving jail time, under the government of his younger sister Yingluck, spurred the protest movement by Bangkok’s middle classes that was used as a pretext for Prayuth’s coup.

Incumbent Thai Prime Minister and United Thai Nation Party’s prime ministerial candidate Prayuth Chan-ocha (second from right) campaigns in Bangkok on Thursday last week. Photo: EPA-EFE

The royalist general has not left power since he seized it and is contesting this month’s polls under the banner of the United Thai Nation Party, seeking to cling on for another term likely as the leader of a minority government – a move experts say could sink Thailand into further political instability.

Paetongtarn carries the Shinawatra family name into the election and has drawn large crowds, especially during tours of the rural heartlands where many are still devoted to the brand of populist politics offered by Thailand’s most important political dynasty.

Pheu Thai are offering around US$16 billion of handouts to pump-prime the Thai economy, as well as long term pledges to nearly double the daily minimum wage to over US$17 and pay graduates a starting monthly salary of more than US$730.

What to know about the major candidates, parties contesting Thailand’s election

She is one of three Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidates. Some analysts speculate she may ultimately step aside in favour of real estate CEO Srettha Thavisin, who does not carry the toxin of the Shinawatra name in the event Pheu Thai has to enter a complex coalition to take government.

Pheu Thai are polling well, but face a challenge on the pro-democracy side from the youth-facing Move Forward Party who have a more radical agenda for change, as well from several conservative parties looking to gather scores of seats to boost their leverage in post-poll horse-trading.