Thailand: Yingluck Shinawatra (born 1967), Prime Minister of Thailand (2011-2014)

Yingluck Shinawatra (ยิ่งลักษณ์ ชินวัตร, RTGS: Yinglak Chinnawat, born 21 June 1967) is a Thai politician, figurehead of the Pheu Thai Party, and Prime Minister of Thailand following the 2011 general election.

Born in Chiang Mai, Yingluck Shinawatra earned a bachelors degree from Chiang Mai University and a masters degree from Kentucky State University, both in public administration. She became an executive in the businesses founded by her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, and later became the president of property developer SC Asset and managing director of Advanced Info Service. Meanwhile, her brother Thaksin became Prime Minister, was overthrown in a military coup, and went into self-imposed exile after a tribunal convicted him of abuse of power. In May 2011, the Pheu Thai Party, which maintained close ties to Thaksin, nominated Yingluck as their candidate for Prime Minister in the 2011 general election.

Election results indicated that Pheu Thai had won a landslide victory with 265 out of the 500 seats available in the House of Representatives of Thailand, making it only the second time in Thai political history that a single party won a parliamentary majority. Yingluck was Thailand's first female Prime Minister. She was dismissed by the Constitutional Court for corruption in 2014.

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

US Embassy Bangkok (PD)

Credit:

Pictures From History