The Thai court dismissed the cabinet along with the prime minister
Last Updated on August 16, 2024 8:54 am
Thailand’s Constitutional Court has removed Prime Minister Shretha Thavisin from her post. Not only Thavisin, but his entire cabinet was sacked.
The court gave that judgment against Thavisin in a moral case on Wednesday. Which has now pushed the country into political turmoil again.
In a case brought by a group of former senators appointed by Thailand’s former junta government, judges ruled that Shretha broke the rules by appointing a lawyer with a criminal conviction to her cabinet.
Earlier, the same court ordered the dissolution of the country’s main opposition party, the Move Forward Party. Also, the party’s former leader was banned from politics for 10 years. The court gave this verdict a week later.
While reading the judgement, Judge Punya Udchachan said the court by a majority of 5-4 ruled that the Prime Minister’s ministry was abolished as per the Constitution. Because he did not show integrity by appointing a convicted lawyer as a minister.
The judge said Shretha Thavisin must have known about the lawyer’s conviction in 2008 when she appointed him to the cabinet.
Punya Udchachan also said that this proves that the Prime Minister has no integrity and has violated moral standards.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shretha Thavisin, who served less than a year, resigned as a result of the court’s verdict. He was the third Prime Minister of the Pheu Thai Party.
Thai politics has been going through a long period of instability for the past two decades. Plagued by a succession of coups, street protests and court orders, the country has been wracked by long-running battles between the military, the pro-monarchist establishment and progressive factions linked to Pheu Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
Meanwhile, the court ruling sacked not only Shretha Thavisin, but also her entire cabinet, and parliament must now meet to choose a new prime minister.
The case against Shretha centered around the appointment of a lawyer named Pichit Chuenban to the cabinet. who is linked to the family of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the former owner of Manchester City and involved in corruption with the conservative monarchist, military elite.
Pichit was also sentenced to six months in prison in 2008 for corruption-related offences. However, he also resigned from the cabinet to save Shretha. However, the court found Shretha guilty in a case based on the complaints of senators appointed by Thailand’s former junta government.
The 40 senators who brought the charges were all appointed by the military junta that ousted the elected Pheu Thai government in a 2014 coup.
Less than a year ago, Shretha came to power as the head of the Phew Thai-led coalition after a compromise with the army-linked factions.
The court’s ruling highlighted an old division in Thai politics between the conservative establishment and progressive parties such as Phiu Thai and its new rival, the MFP.
Thailand has endured a cycle of military coups, court rulings, protests and elections since the early 2000s as Thaksin Shinawatra and his allies battled for supremacy.
Source: Hindustan Times