Thai court sacks PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra for ethics violation
BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office on Friday for an ethics violation after only a year in power, in another crushing blow to the Shinawatra political dynasty that could usher in a new period of turmoil.
Paetongtarn, who was Thailand’s youngest prime minister, becomes the sixth premier from or backed by the billionaire Shinawatra family to be removed by the military or judiciary in a tumultuous two-decade battle for power between the country’s warring elites.
In its verdict, the court said Paetongtarn violated ethics in a leaked June telephone call, during which she appeared to kowtow to Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen when both countries were at the brink of an armed border conflict.
Fighting erupted weeks later and lasted five days.
The decision paves the way for the election by parliament of a new prime minister, a process that could be drawn out, with Paetongtarn’s ruling Pheu Thai party losing bargaining power and facing a challenge to shore-up a fragile alliance with a razor-thin majority.
The ruling brings a premature end to the premiership of the daughter and protege of influential tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra.
Paetongtarn, 39, was a political neophyte when she was thrust abruptly into the spotlight after the surprise dismissal of predecessor Srettha Thavisin by the same court a year ago.
Paetongtarn has apologized over the leaked call and said she was trying to avert a war.
She is the fifth premier in 17 years to be removed by the Constitutional Court, underlining its central role in an intractable power struggle between the elected governments of the Shinawatra clan and a nexus of powerful conservatives and royalist generals with far-reaching influence.
