Thailand's caretaker cabinet has appointed Niwa-tthamrong Boon-song-phaisan as the country’s new acting leader.
66-year-old Niwa-tthamrong was the caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce. He had taken the posts last June. Before that, he served as director of the country’s rice pledging scheme. Before entering politics in 2011, he was a close business associate of Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister overthrown in 2006.
He once worked as the chairman of the executive committee of the media and advertising front of Shin Corporation founded by Thaksin. Niwatthamrong is also a member of the Pheu Thai Party, the same as Yingluck Shinawatra.