Sawt Falasteen - Sax-playing pilot Anutin lands Thai prime ministerial vote

The 58-year-old conservative -- who championed Thailand's 2022 decriminalisation of cannabis -- was elected by parliament to replace Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was ousted by a court order last week.

However, his premiership could be short-lived. The support of the opposition People's Party was crucial to his victory, and their key condition was that new elections be called within four months.

Paetongtarn is the daughter of former prime minister and telecom billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family has dominated Thai politics for two decades but is 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 adviser 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 wearing T-shirts and shorts while stir-frying with a wok, and performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.

- Political chameleon -

Once an office-holder in Thaksin's party, which was then named Thai Rak Thai, he was banned from political activity for five years when the party 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.

The party 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, including Paetongtarn.

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

He accused Westerners in a social media tirade 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 a 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 Friday.

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.

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

Anutin will now have to handle such turbulence himself.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST