Thailand's parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of former leader Thaksin, as the country's new prime minister Friday.
She becomes Thailand's third leader from the Shinawatra family, the youngest leader of the country ever at 37 and only the second woman in the post, after her aunt Yingluck, who lives in exile.
Her father Thaksin was ousted by a coup in 2006 before returning from exile last year.
She was confirmed by 319 votes in approval, with 145 voted against her and 27 abstained. Members of Parliament spent about an hour casting their votes in public one by one.
She is the leader of the ruling Pheu Thai party but was not an elected lawmaker, which was not required for her to be a candidate for prime minister. Paetongtarn was the sole nominee and got a majority of the votes in Parliament with the voting ongoing.
The previous prime minister had been removed by the Constitutional Court two days ago over an ethics violation.
Her public entry into politics came in 2021 and she was appointed as leader of Pheu Thai last year, after she was named one of its three prime ministerial candidates ahead of the polls.
When on the campaign trail, she acknowledged her family ties but insisted she was not just her father's proxy.
"It's not the shadow of my dad. I am my dad's daughter, always and forever, but I have my own decisions," she told a reporter.
Paetongtarn's father Thaksin is one of Thailand's most popular but divisive political figures and was ousted by a military coup in 2006.
He is widely seen as a de facto leader of Pheu Thai, the latest in a string of parties linked to him.
Paetongtarn's nomination followed the removal of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday after less than a year in office.
The Constitutional Court found him guilty of a serious ethical breach regarding his appointment of a Cabinet member who was jailed in connection with an alleged bribery attempt.
It was the second major ruling in a week to shake Thai politics.
The same court last week dissolved the progressive Move Forward party, which won last year's general election but was blocked from taking power.
This then cleared the way for Pheu Thai to form power in a coalition.
