Thai justice on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, accused of having appointed a minister convicted of corruption, in a new episode of political instability that is customary for the kingdom.
MPs will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday (11 p.m. on Thursday, Quebec time) to find a successor, parliament announced Wednesday evening.
The ruling coalition is expected to announce the name of its candidate on Thursday after a meeting in the morning.
The judges voted 5-4 to “terminate” Mr Srettha’s tenure, Justice Punya Udchachon said as he read out the decision.
The leader’s departure, less than a year after his appointment, comes amid economic stagnation and concerns about the state of democracy.
“I respect the decision. I repeat that during almost a year in this position, I have done my best to lead the country honestly,” Srettha Thavisin said from the government headquarters in Bangkok.
“I am sad to be considered a dishonest prime minister,” he added.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy has a long history of instability and military or judicial intervention in the political system, in the name of a status quo that favors the military-royalist bloc, according to the pro-democracy camp.
Last week, the Constitutional Court dissolved the main opposition party and banned its pro-democracy leader Pita Limjaroenrat for ten years, a decision contested by the United Nations and human rights groups.
“Real mess”
“Thai politics is a mess. Thailand is going to suffer a loss of confidence from foreign investors,” Puangthong Pawakapan, a professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told AFP.
Srettha Thavisin was accused by forty pro-army senators of violating ethical rules set out in the Constitution by appointing as minister Pichit Chuenban, a lawyer sentenced in 2008 to six months in prison in a corruption case.
The case evokes the divisions of the 2000s and 2010s between billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, to whom Messrs. Srettha and Pichit are close, and conservative elites aligned with the king and the military.
A year ago, the two sides put aside old grudges to form a coalition that brought Mr Srettha, a member of the Pheu Thai party controlled by the Shinawatra family, to power.
The Pheu Thai party, which has the largest number of MPs in the ruling coalition, could nominate Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who has been regularly mentioned as a contender for the post.
Coalition meeting on Thursday
The outgoing government’s interior minister and leader of the second party in the coalition, Anutin Charnvirakul, is also tipped for the position.
A meeting is scheduled for Thursday morning between the various components in power, Wisut Chainarun, Pheu Thai MP and “whip” in charge of discipline within the coalition, told AFP. “We hope to vote as soon as possible, hoping that it will be done by Friday,” he said.
A property developer who entered politics last year, Mr Srettha has been committed to same-sex marriage, which was adopted in June after years of struggle by the LGBT+ community.
But a majority of Thais rejected his policies, according to a poll published in June.
His plans to recriminalise cannabis and provide 10,000 baht (nearly CA$400) to more than 40 million Thais have caused a stir in the country and within his coalition.
A majority of voters voted in 2023 for the progressives of Move Forward (MFP), who proposed turning the page on twenty years of politics in Thailand dominated by the Shinawatra clan and the generals.
The party’s program included reform of the lèse-majesté law, a new constitution, reduction of the army budget, and the end of certain economic monopolies.
Accused of wanting to destabilize the monarchy, the MFP was dissolved last week, but its members announced the creation of the People’s Party, with the aim of gaining power in the next national election.