BANGKOK – Front runner candidate for Thailand’s top post, Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, gave birth to her second child on Monday, two weeks before the country’s May 14 election.
Announcing the news on social media in the morning, the 36-year-old posted a photo of herself, her husband and the baby boy named Prutthasin Sooksawas. The photo looked like it was taken soon after the birth.
“Thank you for all the support, in a few more days when my mother is stronger, I will meet the media,” read the caption.
Ms Paetongtarn, the youngest daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has been consistently leading opinion polls as voters’ favourite candidate for the premiership.
One of three people nominated by the main opposition party Pheu Thai to become prime minister, she has been spearheading the party’s campaign charge in provinces throughout Thailand, even late into her pregnancy.
It was only in April that she limited her in-person campaign appearances to rallies in and around Bangkok and attended events in farther-out provinces through video-conference calls.
On Monday, ousted premier Thaksin, who has been living overseas in self-exile since 2008, also posted on social media.
“This morning, I am very happy to have my seventh grandchild, a boy,” he wrote, adding that all of them were born while he was living abroad.
“I should ask for permission to return home to take care of my grandchildren,” he said, noting that he will be turning 74 this July and would like to help take care of them.
Ms Paetongtarn’s entry into politics in late 2021 and appointment as the head of Pheu Thai has sparked rumours of Thaksin’s possible return to Thailand.
Most recently, Thaksin said that he is willing to serve his prison term to return home.
Should she become prime minister, Ms Paetongtarn will become Thailand’s youngest prime minister and also the latest Shinawatra family member to take the country’s top job.
