Julapun, 50, is the son of veteran politician Sompong Amornvivat, who served as deputy prime minister and led Pheu Thai in 2019.
He was among those promoting the party’s flagship campaign policies ahead of the 2023 election, including a proposed 10,000-baht (US$300) stimulus handout and the legalisation of casinos.
However, observers say that whoever leads Pheu Thai will remain under the influence of party patriarch Thaksin and his political dynasty.
The Shinawatra clan has been the key foe of Thailand’s pro-military, pro-royalty elite, who view their populist brand of politics as a threat to the traditional social order, for two decades.
Thaksin, who founded the first iteration of Pheu Thai in the late 1990s, was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup and then went into exile for more than a decade.
The 76-year-old is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption during his time in office.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-pheu-thai-new-leader-paetongtarn-thaksin-shinawatra-julapun-5437531
