A Thai Princess Is Running for Prime Minister, and It's a Really Big Deal

An unprecedented move in Thai political history has the whole kingdom shook. After weeks of speculation, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, the elder sister of reigning King Maha Vajiralongkorn, has been confirmed to run as the country’s prime minister in the upcoming general election on March 24.

She is the first royal in the country’s history to run for office in Thailand’s 86 years as a constitutional monarchy. Princess Ubolratana, who has lost two of her royal titles after marrying American businessman Peter Jensen in 1972 (they divorced in 1998), was nominated to the post by the Thai Raksa Chart Party.

"The party has nominated the princess as its sole candidate," Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich told Channel News Asia. "She is knowledgeable and is highly suitable. I believe there will be no legal problems in terms of her qualification, but we have to wait for the Election Commission to endorse her candidacy."

The Election Commission is required to endorse all candidates by February 15. If her candidacy is approved and endorsed by the country’s Election Commission, it would challenge any chances for the country’s current military-led government to stay in power.

Watch: Driving Ferraris with the Thai Royalists

If you need to rehash your memory on Thai politics, here’s a short explainer:

Since Thailand established its constitutional monarchy in 1932, the country’s military has seized power 12 times. The current ruling junta took power in 2014, overthrowing the administration that was lead by the Pheu Thai Party and removed Yingluck Shinawatra, the country’s first female prime minister, along with several cabinet ministers from power.

Yingluck Shinawatra is the younger sister of the Pheu Thai founder, who was also former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. In case you didn’t know, Pheu Thai has won every election for the last two decades. Prior to Yingluck, Thaksin himself was overthrown in a coup in 2006 after found guilty for abuse of power.

Both Shinawatra siblings have fled the country in a self-imposed exile to avoid prison sentences. The elder Shinawatra reportedly is living in Dubai, where he owns some property and was sentenced to two years in jail for corruption in 2008. However, because the statute of limitation of his sentence expired in 2018, he’s no longer liable to serve his sentence. Meanwhile, Yingluck is facing a five-year sentence for negligence after a rice subsidy policy gone wrong. According to reports, she’s currently living in Britain. The Thai Raksa Chart Party, that nominated the princess, is an offshoot party of Pheu Thai, run mostly by Thaksin loyalists.

Moments after the princess' announcement on her now-private Instagram, Thailand’s current prime minister and coup-leader General Prayut Chan-o-cha announced that he would be running for the prime minister post as well for the pro-Junta Palang Pracharat Party.

Paul Chambers, a lecturer at the college of ASEAN community studies at Thailand’s Naresuan University, told the Guardian that open disapproval of her and her policies would become difficult.

"Who would dare campaign against the king’s sister?" he told the Guardian. "She is a definite threat for Prayut because she holds much more legitimacy to Thais than does a coup leader.”

All eyes are on Thailand to see how the pro-Junta party will run against the royalty, knowing that the monarchy is one of the three pillars of Thailand’s intrinsic national values that are regarded highly by their army. In addition to that, Thailand is also known for their strict lèse-majesté law that makes it a crime to criticize, defame or insult members of the royal family. Critical reporting about the royal family is considered illegal and merits a lengthy sentence.

It’s unclear whether the 67-year-old princess is still protected by the draconian law but as of now, Thai political observers have declined to comment much about the princess’ candidacy.

If she wins this election, she will be Thailand's second female prime minister.