Yodchanan Wongsawat, the Pheu Thai Party¡¯s top candidate for prime minister, faces a delicate balancing act in his quest to run the Southeast Asian country ¡ª he must leverage his family¡¯s legacy to win the support of the party faithful, while showing he has fresh ideas to revitalize the economy.
The biomedical engineer and nephew of jailed former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family-backed parties have won all but one election since the turn of the century, said he believes he can achieve an annual economic growth rate of 5% by developing the country¡¯s medical sector.
¡°We have a lot of researchers, we have a lot of opportunities, just only need to make a little bit of investment on the infrastructure and technology transfer, then we can build a new sector of cancer treatment service,¡± Yodchanan said in an interview on Saturday in the northern city of Chiang Mai, his hometown, where he led a campaign to rally supporters ahead of the Feb. 8 snap election.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.