Thai parliament elects new PM

Thailand has its third prime minister in a year after Anutin Charnvirakul breezed through a parliamentary vote.

Charnvirakul, a construction magnate, succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a member of the powerful Shinawatra family who was suspended in July after a phone call with a former Cambodian leader was leaked.

Thailand has been in political turmoil since, ever since deadly border clashes with Cambodian forces. Charnvirakul, who will lead a minority coalition, has vowed new elections within four months of being sworn in. But Bangkok is locked in “a recurrent pattern of elections leading to crises,” a Thai political scientist told the Financial Times, and it is not clear that Charnvirakul’s ascension will break that cycle.