Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday removed Prime Minister Sutra Thawisin from office and ruled against him in an ethics case, throwing the kingdom into fresh political turmoil.
The judges ruled 5-4 that Shrestha had violated the rules by appointing a criminally convicted lawyer to his Cabinet. The case was brought by a group of former senators appointed by Thailand’s former ruling military.
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.
“The court rules by a majority of five to four that the prime minister’s position as minister is terminated under the constitution because he has not shown integrity in appointing this minister,” Justice Punya Udchachonn said, reading out the court’s ruling.
Punya said Shrestha must have been aware of the conviction of lawyer Pichit Chuenban in 2008 when he appointed him to the Cabinet.
“The appointment of the second respondent (Pichit) shows that the first respondent (Shrestha) has no integrity and has violated ethical standards,” Punya said.
Shrestha stepped down in less than a year – becoming the third prime minister from the Pheu Thai Party to be removed from office by the Constitutional Court.
Thai politics have endured two decades of persistent instability, marked by coups, street protests and court orders, much of it fueled by a long-running battle between the military, the pro-monarchy establishment and progressive parties linked to Pheu Thai patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra.
The court’s decision has not only removed Shrestha but his entire cabinet and now Parliament will have to meet to elect a new prime minister.
Cycle of upheaval
The case against Shrestha centred around the appointment of Pichit, a lawyer with links to the family of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin – the former owner of Manchester City and a long-time opponent of the kingdom’s conservative pro-monarchist, pro-military elite.
Pichit, who was sentenced to six months in jail for corruption-related offences in 2008, had resigned from the cabinet to protect Shrestha, but the court moved ahead with the case initiated by a complaint by Thailand’s former military-appointed senators.
Shrestha came to power less than a year ago as head of a Pheu Thai-led coalition after reaching a deal with military-linked parties.
The decision highlights longstanding divisions in Thai politics between the conservative establishment and progressive parties such as Pheu Thai and its new rival, the MFP.
Thailand has been through a cycle of coups, court rulings, street protests and elections since the early 2000s as the ruling establishment struggled for dominance with Thaksin and his allies.
The 40 senators who brought the complaint were appointed by the military junta, which ousted the elected Pheu Thai government in a coup in 2014.
The Senate also played a key role in thwarting the MFP’s attempt to form a government after it won the most seats in last year’s general election.
Senators, concerned by its promises to reform anti-politics laws and break up powerful business monopolies, refused to support the MFP’s then-leader Pita Limjaroonrat as prime minister and the party was forced into opposition.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)