Saxophonist, occasional pilot and heir to a construction fortune, Anutin Charnvirakul was once banned from politics but is now the leading candidate to become Thailand’s next prime minister.

The 58-year-old former minister — who championed Thailand’s 2022 decriminalisation of cannabis — secured the backing Wednesday of the People’s Party, in opposition despite being the largest group in parliament.

That could give him enough votes to succeed Paetongtarn Shinawatra, ousted by a court order last week, but her party has moved to dissolve the legislature and call fresh elections, leaving his path to the premiership uncertain.

Paetongtarn is the daughter of former prime minister and telecom billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family have dominated Thai politics for two decades but are now

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