BANGKOK – Looking fresh just two days after giving birth, Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a leading candidate for Thailand’s premiership, said on Wednesday she was ready to resume campaigning, adding that she remained confident her Pheu Thai Party would gain a landslide victory in the May 14 general election.
The mother of two called her children her “secret power” and confirmed that she would speak at the party’s rally on May 12. Other appearances along the campaign trail will depend on the condition of her newborn son, Prutthasin Sooksawas.
She was speaking to reporters at Bangkok’s Praram 9 Hospital, where she gave birth by caesarean operation on Monday.
Accompanied by her husband Pidok Sooksawas, a commercial airline pilot, she showed the baby – who was ensconced in a cot – to the waiting crowd of reporters.
Her mother Potjaman na Pombejra and elder sister Pinthongtha Shinawatra were also at the hospital.
Ms Paetongtarn, 36, is the daughter of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and has lived abroad since 2008 to evade a corruption-related jail term which he claims is politically motivated.
Her aunt is Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, another Thai premier who was unseated shortly before her government was overthrown in another military coup in 2014. Yingluck similarly lives in self-exile abroad.
Until late April, Ms Paetongtarn was still speaking at the rallies of Pheu Thai Party, which is leading opinion polls ahead of Thailand’s general election.
In these opinion polls, Ms Paetongtarn is also the top or second-most popular prime minister candidate, sharing the limelight with Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, and well ahead of caretaker prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha from the United Thai Nation Party.
Pheu Thai has nominated two other candidates for premiership in this election: Property development tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, and party strategist Chaikasem Nitisiri, 74.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday which one of the three will be prime minister, Ms Paetongtarn smiled broadly and said: “All three are ready.”
