‘Power kids’ rising: Dynastic ties dominate Thailand’s new Cabinet

Young politicians from influential local dynasties control a third of the incoming Cabinet under Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul – a marked departure from previous administrations that were typically dominated by party veterans and wealthy financiers.

Of the 35 members of the new Cabinet, 12 are politicians in their 30s or 40s from coalition leader Bhumjaithai and its largest partner, Pheu Thai.

Some of these young bloods are assuming ministerial office for the first time after years of experience in local politics.

While some observers view this as a generational shift representing a new era for Thai politics, others argue that the young ministers lack experience and could be proxies for their powerful parents.

The appointments followed the traditional quota system based on each party’s parliamentary strength, though a significant number of posts were set aside for technocrats.

Some analysts suspect that the unblemished younger politicians were chosen in place of senior family members who are tarnished by legal or other controversies that would have jeopardised the position of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, also leader of Bhumjaithai.

There is a good reason for such concern. In 2024, the court ousted then-PM Srettha Thavisin from office, ruling his appointment of a former convict to the Cabinet represented a serious breach of ethics.

Bhumjaithai’s ‘power kids’

In Bhumjaithai, these young politicians – dubbed “look thep” (“power kids”) by the Thai media – are led by the party’s 35-year-old secretary general, Chaichanok Chidchob, who retained the post of digital economy and society (DES) minister he held in the previous Anutin government.

Chaichanok, the eldest son of Bhumjaithai founder Newin Chidchob, has served as Bhumjaithai’s number 2 since March 2024, following his uncle Saksayam Chidchob’s resignation in the wake of a shareholding scandal.

Chaichanok was only 33 when he assumed the key party post, a move widely presumed to have been engineered by his father.

The UK-educated politician joined Bhumjaithai in 2022 and was elected to Parliament for the first time in 2023, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in representing his native Buri Ram province.

He was re-elected as a list MP on February 8 this year.

Fellow Bhumjaithai “look thep” Boonthida Somchai, party spokeswoman and MP for Ubon Ratchathani, was appointed as his deputy at the DES Ministry – her first Cabinet post.

Boonthida, 42, is the daughter of veteran politician Issara Somchai, a former Democrat Party deputy leader who served as minister of social development and human security in Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government.

Boonthida first entered Parliament in 2011, becoming the youngest MP in the House at just 27. She was re-elected three times in her home province, in 2019, 2023 and 2026.

“Power kid” Siripong Angkasakulkiat has been appointed as deputy transport minister.

The deputy Bhumjaithai leader and MP for Sisaket served as spokesman in the previous Anutin administration and makes his Cabinet debut aged 49 after entering politics in 2007.

His father, Chatmongkol Angkasakulkiat, is Thailand’s longest-serving mayor, elected to lead Sisaket City for 10 consecutive terms.

Bhumjaithai list MP Sabeeda Thaised, 41, has retained her culture minister’s seat in the new Cabinet.

She is the daughter of former deputy interior minister Chada Thaised, a Bhumjaithai heavyweight who served as deputy party leader from 2018 to 2024.

Her cousin, Bhumjaithai deputy secretary general Jeseth Thaiseth, was named deputy interior minister – his first post in government.

The 37-year-old was re-elected in his family’s political stronghold of Uthai Thani on February 8.

Paradorn Prissananantakul, a five-time MP from Ang Thong, has retained his seat as Prime Minister’s Office minister in the new Cabinet.

The 46-year-old, the eldest son of veteran politician Somsak Prissananantakul, served as second deputy speaker in the previous House of Representatives.

Bhumjaithai’s deputy secretary general Phattrapong Phattraprasit was named deputy transport minister.

The two-time Phichit MP is a nephew of Pradit Phattraprasit, a former deputy finance minister and ex-Democrat Party secretary general who led his family’s defection to Bhumjaithai in 2022.

Sanphet Bunyamanee, 36, will serve alongside Phattrapong as deputy transport minister. The newly elected Songkhla MP is the son of Nipon Bunyamanee, a former Democrat heavyweight and ex-chief of the Songkhla Administrative Organisation.

The family quit the Democrats to join Bhumjaithai last year.

Polapee Suwanchavi, 43, has assumed his first Cabinet post as deputy interior minister under Bhumjaithai’s quota. The four-time MP from Nakhon Ratchasima is the eldest son of the late former deputy commerce minister Pairote Suwanchavi.

Pairote was part of the “Group of 16” – an influential faction of young politicians in the 1990s that included Newin.

First-timers from Pheu Thai

Pheu Thai’s first-time young ministers are led by Yodchanan Wongsawat, the party’s core prime ministerial candidate and now deputy prime minister and minister of higher education, science, research and innovation.

Yodchanan, 46, is a nephew of Pheu Thai’s patriarch and ex-PM, Thaksin Shinawatra.

His father, Somchai Wongsawat, was Thailand’s 26th prime minister, while his mother, Thaksin’s younger sister, Yaowapa, retains strong influence in the party despite holding no executive positions.

The US-educated Yodchanan was a Mahidol University biomedical engineering professor before entering politics.

He is joined in the Cabinet by two other children of Pheu Thai politicians – Piyarat Tiyapairat and Watcharaphon Khaokham, both of whom were appointed deputy minister of agriculture and cooperatives.

Piyarat, 39, Pheu Thai’s deputy secretary general and three-time MP for Chiang Rai, is the daughter of political veteran and former House speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat.

Watcharaphon, a newly elected MP from Udon Thani, is the son of former Pheu Thai MP Wichian Khaokham, who served as chief executive of the Udon Thani Provincial Administrative Organisation from 2012 to 2024.

Legitimacy deficit?

Despite owing their Cabinet places to their family names, the young ministers should be given a chance to prove themselves, experts said.

Stithorn Thananithichot, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, noted that some of the youthful Cabinet members were multitime MPs or had served in senior party and parliamentary positions.

Others, however, had gained their places thanks to party quotas allocated to their families. “It’s a reward for winning a bloc of seats for their party,” he added.

The youthful Cabinet stemmed from the Bhumjaithai-led government’s push to pass power from fathers to their children, according to Assoc Prof Olarn Thinbangtieo, deputy dean at Burapha University’s Faculty of Political Science and Law.

He warned that this move could backfire on the administration, given that many of the first-time ministers lack political experience.

He added that although they represented a shift from filling the Cabinet with influential political veterans, the young appointees could still be influenced by their elders.

“However, these people were elected and, as such, have legitimacy to serve in the Cabinet and prove themselves,” he said. “People should not jump to the conclusion that the children of politicians they dislike cannot function effectively.”