‘Cannabis King’ To Be Thailand’s Next Prime Minister

Sept. 8—Financial Times headlines: “Thailand’s ‘Cannabis King’ Poised To Be Next Prime Minister.” Anutin Charnvirakul, the leader of Bhumjaithai party, reports FT , “from a family that owns a major construction company and who has been kingmaker in Thailand for the past decade, is best known for his support for the decriminalization of cannabis.”

Five prime ministers have been removed by the royalist Constitutional Court over the past 17 years, including the ousting, just last week, of former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra after the court found her guilty of ethics violations. This is the third member of the still very popular Shinawatra family: Thaksin, who broke the royalist domination of the country’s political leadership, his wife Yingluck, and now his daughter Paetongtarn. The so-called “red shirts” ran foreign-instigated color revolutions against the family.

Anutin, whose Bhumjaithai party, or Pride of Thailand, is the third-largest in parliament, struck a deal this week with the opposition People’s Party, the largest political group, which should give him enough votes in the lower house to win. As part of that pact, Anutin has vowed to dissolve Parliament within four months and call a general election.

The People’s Party, formerly known as Move Forward, received the most votes in the 2023 election, but was blocked from power, and its leader barred from politics for a decade, because of the party’s calls to reform the royal defamation law, FT reports. While the People’s Party will vote for Anutin, it will not join the new government.

Anutin, 58, is a conservative and staunch royalist. He served as Paetongtarn’s deputy and interior minister as part of the coalition government.