00:00Now, Anitun Chanwirakhan is to become Thailand's new Prime Minister.
00:06The construction tycoon, famous for his campaign to legalise cannabis,
00:10won a vote in Parliament with the support of the Opposition People's Party,
00:15who have called for new elections within four months.
00:19It's a defeat for the nation's dominant political dynasty,
00:22after heiress Petontan Shinawatt was sacked as a Prime Minister by a court ruling last week.
00:28We're joined now by Matt Hunt, our Thailand correspondent.
00:31Thanks for speaking to us, Matt.
00:33This new government looks like it will be a bit of a slapdash deal
00:37rather than a formal coalition. Is that right?
00:42That's correct. Exactly the way to describe it, actually.
00:45So the 32nd Prime Minister to be, Mr. Anitun Chanwirakun,
00:49he comes from the third largest party in Parliament.
00:52And the agreement that he made to actually make all of this happen
00:56was not really a stable coalition.
00:59So to be clear, what he's doing is he has formed a minority government
01:02where the Progressive Party, which won the 2023 elections,
01:07bat his election as the Prime Minister only for that specific issue.
01:13So they voted for him to be the Prime Minister,
01:15but they are not joining into a coalition with them.
01:17And that's notable because the party that was leading the government,
01:21Mr. Tak-Sidin's Huitai Party, are also now in the opposition.
01:25And so the opposition against everything that his government is facing to come
01:29is likely to be very strong, though.
01:32That said, the budget has already also been passed for this year,
01:36so there's not much he can do there.
01:38And then the other thing is that he agreed to dissolve the House within four months,
01:42which means that there would be elections within four months.
01:45And if that's the case, it seems to be widely understood
01:48that he would need to spend this time campaigning for re-election
01:52because his party is already not the most popular in Parliament.
01:57And it's also important to note that his promise
01:59to dissolve the Parliament within four months
02:01and also to support the drafting of a new constitution is not legally binding.
02:06So the idea of trust was a part of this decision-making process within the Parliament.
02:11And so it's still really uncertain whether or not that four months will hold,
02:15but that is what he has said that he will do.
02:18I guess for those who aren't as au fait with Southeast Asian politics
02:22as those following it, like yourself,
02:25the one name that they will recall and will stick out to them
02:27is Taksin Chinowat, a big figure over the last decades.
02:31I guess the big question now for outsiders is, will he come back?
02:35That is the question that everyone here is asking at the moment
02:41because this has basically been a play-by-play
02:44since he left on his private jet last night
02:46that didn't end up going to Singapore.
02:49And one of the primary decisions that people were looking out for
02:52was this one, who will be the next Prime Minister,
02:54as well as the court charges, I mean, the criminal charges
02:57he was facing next week.
02:58However, as I see it, this one was key
03:01because if you looked at, Mr. Taksin returned after 15 years of self-exile
03:05on the day that the Kuatai Party, his party,
03:10won the government a year and some change ago,
03:12or maybe two years ago.
03:14And then he's now leaving the day before his main opponent
03:17is about to become the Prime Minister.
03:19And so where things can become, like,
03:23from politically charged to criminal charges, such as here,
03:27it does seem likely that this will be a blow to his decision-making
03:31to come back, which he has said that he will do.
03:33But at this moment, it's still kind of speculation,
03:37but it's speculation moving more towards what feels like quite a possibility.
03:40All right.
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