Thai Prime Minister Ousted After Top Court Ruling

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been officially removed from office after having violated the government's ethics rules.

Shinawatra was elected by the Thai House of Representatives and Senate in August 2024, meaning that she is only one year into her four-year tenure. However, Thailand's Constitutional Court has ruled that her flagrant ethics violations have made it unconstitutional to allow her to remain in office.

The ruling comes several months after a highly controversial call she had with Cambodian President of the Senate and former Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 15. The call took place during a time of high tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, with both sides exchanging fire near their disputed border and launching strikes at each other before the conflict was settled.

In the leaked call, she could be heard calling Hun Sen "uncle" and expressed displeasure with her own army's actions, raising concerns. Additionally, she also stated that if Sen "wants anything, just tell me, and I will take care of it," sparking outrage over her loyalty to the country. The call was confirmed by both sides to have taken place and was not altered in any way, leading to intense suspicion and anger towards Shinawatra.

The prime minister was then suspended from office on July 1, with a court case following the public outcry. Shinawatra claimed that her statements to Hun Sen were her way of attempting to negotiate and reduce tensions, but the court's final ruling yesterday confirmed that she would be ousted from office immediately.

The incident is yet another example of Thailand's extremely unstable government, which has seen various changes and ejections over the past decade. In 2014, former army commander Prayut Chan-o-cha took power in a coup d'état, keeping the prime minister position until 2023. Then, Srettha Thavisin was elected as prime minister, but he was dismissed by the Thai Constitutional Court just one year later for gross ethics violations. Now, Shinawatra has been dismissed for a breach of ethics rules, meaning that the country will be forced to find yet another leader.

These issues can be primarily attributed to various constitutional rules that increase the risks of government instability. The Thai constitution allows for a significant military influence on politics, leading to frequent coups– the nation has experienced over a dozen coups since the end of its absolute monarchy in 1932. Furthermore, the Thai Constitutional Court maintains an all-powerful role in all decisions, and their final say cannot be reversed. This has led to dramatic changes in government in the blink of an eye, with the court ousting prime ministers and even dissolving entire parties.

For example, in August 2024, the court dissolved a major electoral party. The Move Forward Party actually won the majority of the House in 2024, but the military-appointed Senate blocked their candidate from becoming prime minister due to their plans to change the status quo. This was seen as biased by most of the world, but the court went even further– they dissolved the party on the basis of "attempting to undermine the monarchy" and banned its leaders from politics, proving the court's ultimate power– and this wasn't the first time it had occurred. The Thai Constitutional Court has dissolved a staggering 111 parties since 1997, making any opposition to the court virtually impossible.

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Image credit to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights