Thailand’s King endorses new cabinet months after elections – World

BANGKOK: Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed a new cabinet, including real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin as the country’s new prime minister and finance minister, according to a Royal gazette published on Saturday, months after the May elections.

Srettha’s Pheu Thai party, backed by the billionaire Shinawatra family, will oversee defence, transport, commerce, health and the foreign ministry portfolios.

Thailand has had a caretaking government since March, and the Move Forward party, winners of the May elections, have struggled to form a government without support from conservative lawmakers over its progressive agenda.

The second-place Pheu Thai broke off an alliance with Move Forward and brought on rival parties aligned with army generals that ousted Shinawatra-linked parties in 2006 and 2014 coups.

The announcement of the new cabinet comes weeks after Srettha,…