Yingluck Shinawatra

Biography

Yingluck Shinawatra was born on June 21, 1967, in San Kamphaeng, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, into a wealthy family with Chinese roots. She went to Yupparaj Wittayalai School and Regina Coeli College before earning a bachelor's degree in public administration from Chiang Mai University. She later studied in the United States, earning a master's degree in public administration from Kentucky State University. Her education and family background set her up for a career blending business and politics in Thailand.

Before stepping into politics, Yingluck had a strong career in the private sector, climbing the ranks in companies founded by her older brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. She was the president of SC Asset, a property development company, and managing director of Advanced Info Service, one of Thailand's largest telecom companies. Her business success gave her public recognition that the Pheu Thai Party utilized when they picked her as their candidate for prime minister in the 2011 election.

Yingluck won the 2011 election by a wide margin, running on a platform of national unity, poverty reduction, and corporate tax reform. She became Thailand's first female prime minister and, at 44, was its youngest head of government in over sixty years. Her government focused on economic policies aimed at helping the public, including a controversial rice-pledging scheme designed to help rural farmers by ensuring above-market prices for their crops. The program eventually faced serious legal challenges, with critics claiming it caused major financial losses to the state.

In late 2013, large street protests organized by opposition groups unsettled her government. She dissolved parliament in December 2013 and called a quick election, staying on as a caretaker prime minister. On May 7, 2014, the Constitutional Court removed her from office for abusing power related to the transfer of a senior national security official. Not long after, on May 22, 2014, a military coup ended the civilian government entirely. Yingluck faced more legal troubles due to the rice-pledging scheme, and in 2017, while her trial was still underway, she left Thailand. She was later convicted in absentia and sentenced to five years in prison, a ruling she has always said was politically driven.

Since leaving Thailand, Yingluck has lived in self-imposed exile, mainly in the United Kingdom. She has spoken out about her situation several times, arguing that the charges against her were politically motivated. In 2013, she received an honorary doctorate from Auckland University of Technology, and she has received several high Thai state honors like the Grand Cordon of the Order of the White Elephant and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Thailand, both awarded in 2012.