Thailand’s Constitutional Court has removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office for appointing a Minister with a criminal conviction.
Srettha becomes the fourth Thai Prime Minister in 16 years to be removed by the Constitutional Court.
Judge Punya Udchachon, reading the ruling on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, said that the court voted 5-4 to remove Srettha.
The ruling asserted that Srettha’s appointment of former lawyer Pichit Chuenban, jailed for six months in 2008 for contempt of court conviction, breached the provisions on integrity and ethical standards as mandated by the constitution.
Pichit resigned from his role as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday in a bid to protect Srettha.
The ruling comes less than a week after judges voted 6-3 to accept a petition submitted by 40 senators to remove Srettha from office, but they rejected an application to suspend him from his duties as Prime Minister pending the probe.
Deputy Prime Minister, Phumtham Wechayachai is expected to take over as the caretaker premier.
The verdict against Srettha also came days after the same court dissolved the country’s top opposition party Move Forward, which won the the most number of seats in the 2023 election but was blocked from power.
Srettha’s Pheu Thai Party and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand’s turmoil, with two of its governments removed by coups in a long-running grudge match between the party’s founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.
The decision could rock a fragile truce between influential former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his rivals in the conservative elite and military old guard, which enabled the tycoon’s return from 15 years of self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become Prime Minister the same day.
Srettha’s removal after less than a year in power means parliament must convene to choose a new Prime Minister, with the prospect of more uncertainty in a country dogged for 20 years by coups and court rulings that have brought down multiple governments and political parties.
The next Premier would need to have been nominated a Prime Ministerial candidate by their parties prior to the 2023 election, with Thaksin’s 37-year-old daughter and party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra among Pheu Thai’s options.
If successful, she would be Thailand’s third Shinawatra Premier after Thaksin and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Other potential candidates include Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and Prawit Wongsuwan, an influential former army chief who was involved in the last two coups.
Srettha Saddened By Court Decision
Speaking to reporters, Srettha said that he was saddened by the court decision.
He stated that he had not anticipated the decision and had performed his duty as Prime Minister with honesty.
He hoped that the next Premier will soon be elected by the parliament.
Srettha’s ouster risks political chaos in Thailand, where legal challenges have threatened the coalition government cobbled together after messy general elections last year.
Foreign investors have pulled money from the country, concerned by both political risk and the government’s failure to revive Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy after a decade of below 2% average annual growth.
The government’s dismissal will affect key economic policies, including a controversial $14 billion cash handout program to stimulate the economy.
Krystal Tan, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, opined, “The decision won’t be taken well by markets given the rise in political uncertainty and the associated downside risks to growth stemming from potential unrest and delays to economic policy implementation.”
The economist added, “We need to see whether we end up with a prolonged political vacuum.”
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