Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Paetongtarn Shinawatra was the third member of her family to become prime minister of Thailand and the third to be removed before finishing a term. She is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by the army in 2006, and the niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, who was removed by the constitutional court in 2014; she grew up between Bangkok and her father's exile, studied hotel management, and ran the family's property and hotel interests before entering politics as the face of Pheu Thai in 2023. The party finished second to the reformist Move Forward, which won the election and was then blocked from governing by the appointed senate and later dissolved by the courts - so Pheu Thai formed a government with the conservative and military parties it had spent twenty years opposing, and Thaksin came home from exile the same day. She became prime minister in August 2024, at thirty-seven the youngest in Thai history, after her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was disqualified over a cabinet appointment. Her government fell over a telephone call. During a border dispute with Cambodia in June 2025 she spoke with Hun Sen, addressing him as uncle and disparaging a Thai regional army commander; the recording was leaked, Bhumjaithai left the coalition, and the constitutional court suspended and then dismissed her for an ethical breach. Anutin Charnvirakul succeeded her. She was thirty-eight when the court removed her, after just under a year in office. Her father was arrested on arrival from exile in 2023 and served his sentence in a hospital wing before being paroled, which became its own political controversy. Three Shinawatras have now been removed from the premiership by a court or the army, and none has completed a full term.

• Lived: 1986 CE – ?
• Nationality: Thai
• Roles: politician