Yingluck Shinawatra
Yingluck Shinawatra (Thai: ย งล กษณ ช นว ตร, RTGS: Yinglak Chinnawat, pronounced [jîŋ.lák tɕʰīn.ná.wát]; born 21 June 1967), nicknamed Pu (Thai: ป , pronounced [pūː], "crab"), is a Thai businesswoman and politician, a member of the Pheu Thai Party who became the 28th Prime Minister of Thailand following the 2011 general election. Yingluck was Thailand's first female Prime Minister and its youngest in over 60 years. She was removed from office on 7 May 2014 by a Constitutional Court decision that found her guilty on a charge of abuse of power. Born in Chiang Mai Province into a wealthy family of Hakka Chinese descent, Yingluck Shinawatra earned a bachelor's degree from Chiang Mai University and a master's degree from Kentucky State University, both in public administration. She then became an executive in the businesses founded by her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, and later became the president of property developer SC Asset and managing director of Advanced Info Service. Meanwhile, her brother had formed his own political party and became Prime Minister in 2001, governing until he was overthrown while out of the country by a military coup. Thaksin returned to Thailand, but fled shortly before was convicted in absentia of using his position to increase his own wealth. He has since lived in self-imposed exile, rather than serve his sentence in prison. In May 2011, the Pheu Thai Party, which maintains close ties to Thaksin, nominated Yingluck as their candidate for Prime Minister in the 2011 general election. She campaigned on a platform of national reconciliation, poverty eradication, and corporate income tax reduction and won a landslide victory. On 7 May 2014, the Constitutional Court of Thailand ordered Yingluck Shinawatra to step down following months of political crisis. The Court found her guilty of charges of abuse of power over the transfer of national security Chief Thawil Pliensri in 2011 to make way for a Pheu Thai supporter. On 23 May 2014 Yingluck was arrested along with former cabinet ministers and political leaders of all parties, in the wake of a military coup which occurred the previous day. She was taken with two family members to an army camp in central Thailand. A military official said she would be detained for up to a week while the coup was consolidated.