Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Wednesday hailed her newborn son as her “secret power” and said she is ready to return to the election campaign trail for the Pheu Thai Party as soon as possible.
“I’m very ready to return to the campaign,” she told reporters at Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok, where she delivered a baby boy on Monday. “We need to make the landslide happen for Pheu Thai” in the May 14 vote, she said.
The 36-year-old daughter of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra has been first or second in surveys of voters’ choice of prime minister and Pheu Thai — the latest incarnation of the movement founded by her father — is leading most opinion polls.
“I believe that good things come with babies, so this is a blessing for my family,” she told reporters.
A heavily pregnant Ms Paetongtarn was a near-constant presence at campaign rallies until just a week before giving birth.
The new arrival, named Phruethasin Suksawat and nicknamed “Thasin” in honour of her father, is the second for Ms Paetongtarn and her husband Pitaka Suksawat, a commercial pilot. The couple married in March 2019 and already have a girl.
However, the latest National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) poll showed Ms Paetongtarn falling behind Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat for the first time among top choices for prime minister.
The latest addition to the Shinawatra family has increased speculation about a possible return to Thailand by Thaksin, who fled the country in 2008 before being sentenced on corruption charges he says are politically motivated.
Ms Paetongtarn said her father, 73, wants to return to Thailand but not to get involved in politics again.
“He always says he wants to return home to raise his grandchildren. He never said he wants to return home to be PM,” she said.
