Bangkok, Aug 14 (EFE).- Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin after less than a year in office and just a week after dissolving the party that won the 2023 elections, plunging the country into uncertainty amid criticism of the powerful conservative court.
In a close deliberation, with five votes in favor and four against, the Constitutional Court, one of the guarantors of the conservative powers of the Army and the Royal House in the country, announced the dismissal of Srettha, in office since August 22, 2023.
The court found him guilty of violating an ethics code for appointing Pichit Chuenban as finance minister in late April. Chuenban was sentenced in 2008 to six months in prison for attempted bribery of judicial officials.
A 62-year-old former construction magnate, Srettha has maintained his innocence and defended his “integrity” following his dismissal, which stems from a complaint filed in court by a group of former senators elected by the defunct military junta (2014-2019).
“I have tried to do everything right during my tenure and I believe I have not been an unethical prime minister,” Srettha said at a press conference.
His dismissal would lead to the downfall of his entire cabinet and the House of Representatives having to elect a new leader, which in principle has no time limit, which could plunge the country into paralysis, while Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai remains in charge of an interim government.
Srettha came to power after a risky political carom. Head of the Phue Thai party, once the main antagonist of the conservative powers, he was elected prime minister by parliament almost a year ago with the support of pro-military parties, despite his electoral promise not to do so.
The Pheu Thai party thus managed to return to power nine years after being ousted by the military, which has carried out 13 coups since 1932, and after the reformist party Avanzar, which won the elections, was unable to govern due to the blockade of the previous, pro-military Senate.
Double “judicial coup”
Avanzar, which became the leading opposition force, was dissolved last week by the same court, which considered its proposal to reform the lese majeste law, one of the most draconian on the planet, a threat to the constitutional monarchy, although the reformist movement announced its new brand, the People’s Party, on Friday.
The dissolution of Avanzar and the dismissal of Srettha have raised criticism of the judicialisation of the system and the knockout of democratic renewal.
“Almost 15 months after the general elections, a political reset is taking place to preserve and perpetuate autocratic power and the prerogatives of the conservative-monarchical establishment,” says Thai political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak in a commentary sent to EFE.
For his part, Termsak Chalermpalanupap, a Thailand analyst at the Yusof Ishak ISEAS Institute in Singapore, stressed to EFE that the Constitutional Court’s moves “are nothing new in Thai politics since the dissolution of the absolute monarchy in 1932.”
Srettha is the third Thai prime minister to be dismissed by the court in 16 years: the first was Samak Sundaravej, from a party outside the military sphere and forced to retire in 2008 on the pretext of having accepted a job as a presenter of a television cooking show.
The second was Yingluck Shinawtra, Thaksin’s sister, who was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2014 for abuse of power.
The dismissal of Srettha, a political novice who governed in the shadow of Thaksin – now accused of lèse-majesté and whose lawyer was the former Finance Minister who accused the former magnate – gives way to a season of speculation about his possible replacement.
It must be backed by more than half of the current 493 MPs in parliament, with the ruling coalition controlling 314, and high-profile names include Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the country’s marijuana liberaliser Anutin Charnvirakul, and a powerful former military man behind coups, Prawit Wongsuwan.
“Thailand’s dark era of destroying democracy through a conservative elite controlled by the Constitutional Court continues,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.
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2024-08-15 01:23:53
