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Asian AngleIn Thailand, Srettha Thavisin is the prime minister, but is he really in charge?
- Srettha is neither the Pheu Thai leader nor an MP, and is currently at odds with the Bank of Thailand governor over the state of the economy
- Thailand’s politicians and foreign leaders have preferred to turn to Thaksin Shinawatra, even though the 75-year-old is serving a jail term for corruption
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How many prime ministers does Thailand have now? One, if you ask Srettha Thavisin.
In theory, the 62-year-old real estate tycoon is the prime minister. Nominally, he leads a government coalition of 11 parties with 314 MPs in Thailand’s 500-member House of Representatives. But whether he is actually fully or partially in charge is another matter altogether.
In practice, Srettha is neither an MP nor the leader of Pheu Thai, the chief party in the ruling coalition. He has confessed to knowing a few of the party’s 141 MPs. His familiarity with MPs from other government parties is almost non-existent.
During the few hectic weeks before the formation of his cabinet, Srettha was hardly at the bargaining table. He did not do the wheeling and dealing; rather, this was done by Pheu Thai bigwigs, notably Phumtham Wechayachai, who is now a deputy prime minister and minister of commerce; and Dr Prommin Lertsuridej, now the secretary general to the prime minister. Both Phumtham and Prommin have close ties to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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