Sritha Thavisin has been elected Thailand’s new prime minister after months of political deadlock

Sritha Thavisin of the Thai View Party will become Thailand’s prime minister after securing parliamentary support in a vote on Tuesday.

Sritha, a real estate mogul who entered the Thai political scene only months earlier under the mantle of Pheu Thai, has required 375 votes to become prime minister and form the next Bangkok government. His party said it won with 482 in a Google translated Facebook post on Tuesday.

Thailand has been run by a transitional government since March, and its parliament is deadlocked.

The next prime minister now faces the task of revitalizing Thailand after nearly a decade of military rule and boosting its economy, which posted a 1.8% year-on-year GDP increase in the second quarter, According to the National Council for Economic and Social Development – Shortfall of expected expansion of 3.1% According to a Reuters poll.

Move Forward won a historic election in May, but was later barred from seeking a bid when its US-educated liberal leader Peta Limgarwinrat lost 51 votes from the required majority of Thailand’s bicameral National Assembly to win the top job.

More importantly, Move Forward’s electoral victory paved the way for progress away from the military-backed rule of Prayuth Chan-ocha, who took power in a 2014 coup. Pheu Thai initially supported the party, but advanced in its quest for power after Move Forward failed to gain support.

Pheu Thai, Thailand’s second largest party, announced on Monday that it has formed an 11-party coalition with 314 votes to form a government. According to a Google translated Facebook post.

Controversially, the proposed alliance includes the pro-military parties of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart – known as the United Thai Nation Party and linked to Prayuth Chan-ocha – and the Palang Pracharath party of Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Sritha’s victory comes hours after the fugitive former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, 74, returned to Thai soil for the first time since 2008, ending 15 years of self-exile after being imprisoned in absentia on charges of abuse of power.

He now faces eight years in prison. Thaksin founded an earlier incarnation of Pheu Thai.

“Tomorrow at nine o’clock, I would like to ask permission to return to live on the soil of Thailand and share the air with Thai brothers and sisters as well,” the former prime minister said on Monday. On the X social media platformformerly known as Twitter, according to Google Translate.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sritha offered “congratulations to the Shinawatra family and former Prime Minister Thaksin, who will return to Thailand today.” In the Google Translated comments on X.

“It is probably no coincidence that Thaksin returned on the same day a sympathetic government came to power. It is possible that Thaksin will now ask for a pardon – but that is not something the Thai Pheu government can achieve,” said political analyst Ken Mattis Lohatipanon.

He added that the 11-party coalition is likely to continue for the time being, united by an interest in preventing Movement Forward from entering government.

“However, there is likely to be a degree of disagreement in politics; the leader of the conservative United Thai Nation Party, for example, has promised to ensure that what they see as ‘mistakes of the past’ will not be repeated,” he said.

– CNBC’s Jenny Reed contributed to this report