Thaksin: two to challenge daughter Paetongtarn

Ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra says the family's Pheu Thai political juggernaut will eventually have two other candidates for prime minister other than his youngest daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

Thaksin made the comment in reaction to critics saying there would be a new round of political unrest if another Shinawatra becomes prime minister. But he did not mention the other potential candidates.

Thaksin said his daughter is campaigning hard despite being seven months pregnant. The 36-year-old Paetongtarn, who got married in Hong Kong in 2019, is emerging as the candidate to beat in the polls in May.

She is campaigning hard in the vote-rich rural strongholds of the Pheu Thai juggernaut, hoping to reignite the kind of fervor among the working class that swept Thaksin and aunt Yingluck to power in unprecedented landslides.

Political neophyte Paetongtarn is promising to complete unfinished business from three stints in office since 2001, all of which were cut short by court rulings and military coups that it says were orchestrated by the conservative establishment.

"We fixed everything in the first year but four years later we were ousted by a coup," Paetongtarn said.

She added that Thailand's political turmoil not only makes the country "go backward, but also makes the world see the country in a different light, reducing trade opportunities."

Thaksin and Yingluck were toppled by the army in 2006 and 2014 respectively, despite overseeing big economic growth. Both live in self-imposed exile to avoid prison convictions their allies say were designed to prevent their political comebacks.

Thaksin's youngest daughter is using the same playbook in offering minimum wage hikes, utilities subsidies, high-speed rail systems and infrastructure to manage floods and droughts.

Pheu Thai's slogan is "Think big, act smart," taking aim at incremental reforms by the military-backed governments of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha since he seized power in 2014. Though yet to be named as Pheu Thai's prime ministerial candidate, Paetongtarn already has twice the support of Prayuth.

Paetongtarn said she consults regularly with her father, who lives mainly in Dubai.

Despite their electoral popularity, the Shinawatras are loathed in Thailand as much as they are loved.

They have long been accused by opponents of cronyism to enrich business friends and of buying off the poor with wasteful populist policies. The Shinawatras deny the charges.