First it hit the election winner, then the Prime Minister: Thailand’s constitutional judges plunged the Asian country into a serious crisis.
Thailand is experiencing turbulent times. A week ago, the country’s Constitutional Court banned a party that had emerged victorious from the May 2023 parliamentary elections but was prevented by the country’s elites from forming a government. According to the decision, its leader, the extremely popular Pita Limjaroenrat, is not allowed to hold political office for ten years. Now the judges in the capital Bangkok have also removed from office the man who became Prime Minister of the Southeast Asian country instead of Pita: Srettha Thavisin, a political newcomer who only took office last September.
Srettha’s downfall was a personnel decision. The 62-year-old had appointed Pichit Chuenban, a politician with a criminal record, as his cabinet chief; the majority of constitutional judges saw this as a violation of ethical standards. Pichit was sentenced to six months in prison in 2008 for contempt of court in the context of a bribery scandal. In May he resigned from office, although Prime Minister Srettha had backed him. Pichit had not violated any regulations, said Srettha.
“The verdict against Srettha came as a surprise to many observers”
“The verdict against Srettha came as a surprise to many observers,” says Vanessa Steinmetz. The judges’ decision, according to the head of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Bangkok office, “means further political uncertainty for Thailand.” Several months after the elections in May last year, Srettha managed to forge a multi-party coalition under the leadership of his Pheu Thai party and end the almost ten-year rule of General Prayut Chan-o-cha. Prayut seized power in a coup in 2014, the twelfth military coup in the country since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.
However, Srettha’s party only came in second place in the election, with the clear winner being Pita Limjaroenrat’s Move Forward party, which was banned last week, with 34 percent. However, Pita was unable to form a government due to massive resistance from the military and the royalist elites. Move Forward had started the election with the promise, among other things, to Law against lèse majesté which provides for draconian prison sentences and, according to critics, is repeatedly used to silence opponents.
Thailand’s election winner complains: “They are after us. They are destroying us”
Last week, the Thai constitutional judges justified their ban on Move Forward by saying that the party wanted to abolish the monarchy. An accusation that Pita denies. A few days ago, Move Forward was re-established under the name “People’s Party”. In an interview with the Guardian Pita expressed concern that the new party would not be left alone either. “They are after us. They are destroying us,” Pita told the newspaper on Monday. “They will not compromise.”
After Srettha’s impeachment, the parliament in Bangkok must now elect a new prime minister. It is expected that Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will initially take over the office. There is also speculation in Thailand about a return of the family of the powerful former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin went into exile in 2006 after mass protests and a military coup, and a few years later his sister Yingluck became prime minister. She was also deposed by the Constitutional Court, and days later General Prayut staged a coup to gain power.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter and Yingluck’s niece, is currently the leader of the ruling Pheu Thai party. Thaksin himself returned to Thailand from exile last year – on the very day that Srettha was elected to office. It is quite possible that he will now ensure that his daughter Paetongtarn Thailand becomes the new Prime Minister.
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