Thai court sacks PM Srettha

The decision throws the kingdom into fresh political turmoil

FE Team | Published: August 14, 2024 21:58:38

BANGKOK, Aug 14 (AFP): Thailand's Constitutional Court sacked Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday, branding him dishonest in a ruling in an ethics case that throws the kingdom into fresh political turmoil.
The judges ruled 5-4 that Srettha breached regulations by appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
The ruling comes a week after the same court dissolved the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) and banned its former leader from politics for 10 years.
Srettha's appointment showed he "has no honesty and breached ethical standards", Judge Punya Udchachon said in reading the court's judgment that "the ministerial position of the prime minister is terminated under the constitution".
The court ruled that Srettha must have known about lawyer Pichit Chuenban's 2008 conviction when he appointed him, Punya said.
Srettha leaves office after less than a year in the job-the third prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court.
The 62-year-old former property tycoon said he was "sad" to be labelled dishonest, but would abide by the court's decision.
"I respect the verdict. I reiterate that for the almost one year I have been in this role, I have tried with good intentions to lead the country with honesty," Srettha told reporters outside his office.
Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability, marked by coups, street protests and court orders, much of it energised by the long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and progressive parties linked to Pheu Thai patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will replace Srettha as a caretaker until parliament meets to vote for a replacement-which could happen as soon as Friday.
Under Thai rules, the new PM must be chosen from the list of candidates parties submitted ahead of the election last year.
As well as Srettha, Pheu Thai party's nominees included Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Writing on the Thai Enquirer news site, political analyst Ken Mathis Lohatepanont said the Pheu Thai-led coalition would "almost certainly hold on".
He said the PM job was likely "Paetongtarn's to have if she wants it", but otherwise it could go to Anutin Charnvirakul, head of the Bhumjaithai party, which is part of the coalition.
Srettha fell over the appointment of Pichit, a lawyer associated with the family of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin-former Manchester City owner and longtime bete noire of the kingdom's conservative pro-royalist, pro-military elite.