Thai lawmakers vote Yingluck Shinawatra as premier

NEW PRIME MINISTER. Thai prime minister-to-be Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at Parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. Recently elected Thai lawmakers gathered for the official opening of parliament Monday. AP FILE PHOTO

BANGKOK — Thai lawmakers have officially chosen Yingluck Shinawatra as the country’s first female prime minister.

The lower house of Parliament voted Friday to elect the 44-year-old businesswoman to the post, with 296 of the legislature’s 500 members voting in Yingluck’s favor.

Three members voted against and 197 abstained.

The vote comes a month after Yingluck’s party won a landslide victory in Thailand’s July 3 elections.

Yingluck will become Thailand’s 28th prime minister, and the fifth since her brother Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled in a 2006 military coup.

Before Yingluck can officially assume power, King Bhumibol Adulyadej must endorse her in a separate ceremony expected within days.