Some three months after an election that represented one of the biggest challenges in years to Thailand’s royal establishment, the country finally has a new prime minister — and it’s someone who has the support of forces aligned with the palace.
Srettha Thavisin, a former property tycoon, became the first new leader to take charge of Thailand since 2014, when former army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha staged a coup. Srettha, 60, won at least 378 votes in a joint sitting of the parliament’s two chambers with 747 lawmakers on Tuesday, including 124 votes from the military-appointed Senate in addition to his bloc’s 314 elected lawmakers.
