Sawt Falasteen - Sax-playing pilot Anutin plots path to Thai premiership

The 58-year-old former minister -- who championed Thailand's 2022 decriminalisation of cannabis -- secured the backing Wednesday of the People's Party, in opposition despite being the largest group in parliament.

That could give him enough votes to succeed Paetongtarn Shinawatra, ousted by a court order last week, but her party has moved to dissolve the legislature and call fresh elections, leaving his path to the premiership uncertain.

Paetongtarn is the daughter of former prime minister and telecom billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family have dominated Thai politics for two decades but are now faltering.

Anutin himself is the scion of another political and business dynasty. His father was acting prime minister during a 2008 political crisis and went on to spend three years as interior minister.

The family fortune centres on Sino-Thai Engineering, a construction firm that has secured lucrative government contracts over decades, including for the capital's main airport and the parliament building.

A New York-trained industrial engineer, Anutin entered politics in his early 30s as an advisor to the foreign affairs ministry, later becoming health minister, interior minister and deputy prime minister.

Nicknamed "Noo", which means "mouse" in Thai, he styles himself as a man of the people with a taste for Thai street food despite his wealth.

He appears on social media stir-frying with a wok wearing T-shirts and shorts, and performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.

- Political chameleon -

Once an office-holder in Thaksin's party, then named Thai Rak Thai, he was banned from politics for five years when it was dissolved in 2007.

Grounded from politics, he used his spare time to learn to fly -- collecting a small fleet of private planes he used to ferry sick people to hospital and deliver donated organs.

He returned as leader of the centre-right Bhumjaithai, whose third place finish in 2023 was their best showing in a general election.

It has proved to be something of a political chameleon, becoming part of several government coalitions, with Anutin serving as a deputy to Thailand's three most recent PMs.

Anutin gained international prominence in managing tourist-reliant Thailand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as health minister under the military-led government.

In a social media tirade he accused Westerners of spreading the virus by refusing to wear masks, and was later forced to backtrack and apologise -- many Thais remain divided on his handling of the disease.

Bhumjaithai went into coalition with Thaksin's Pheu Thai in 2023, refusing to ally with the progressive Move Forward party -- which was later dissolved, to be succeeded by the People's Party that backed him on Wednesday.

Bhumjaithai has opposed loosening Thailand's draconian royal insult laws, seen by some as evidence of its conservative instincts.

But Anutin made international headlines when as health minister he delivered on a campaign promise to legalise cannabis.

In June, he pulled Bhumjaithai out of the coalition following a leaked telephone call between Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen and then-prime minister Paetongtarn over a border dispute.

Now Pheu Thai are looking to obstruct Anutin's route to the top job.

T.Samara--SF-PST