- The new prime minister must be elected by parliament.
- Phumtham Wechayachai will take over as interim prime minister.
- Court ruling raises questions about political truce.
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for “seriously” violating ethics by appointing a former lawyer who served time in prison to his Cabinet, raising the spectre of more political turmoil and a reset of the ruling alliance.
Property tycoon Srettha becomes the fourth Thai prime minister in 16 years to be removed from office by the same court, after it ruled he violated the constitution by appointing a minister who failed to meet ethical standards.
Srettha's ouster after less than a year in power means parliament must reconvene to elect a new prime minister, bringing with it the prospect of more uncertainty in a country beset for two decades by coups and court rulings that have brought down multiple governments and political parties.
“The court has determined by 5 votes to 4 that the defendant should be dismissed as prime minister due to his lack of honesty,” the judges said, adding that his behaviour “seriously violated ethical standards.”
“I am saddened to be leaving office as a prime minister who was deemed unethical,” Srettha told reporters at the State House. “I discharged my duties with integrity and honesty.”
Last week, the same court dissolved the popular anti-establishment Move Forward opposition party, finding that its campaign to reform a law against insulting the crown risked undermining the constitutional monarchy. On Friday it regrouped under a new party.
Srettha's Pheu Thai Party and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand's turmoil, with two of its governments toppled by coups in a protracted standoff between the party's founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.
The decision could shake a fragile truce between political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra and his enemies among the conservative elite and the military old guard, which allowed the tycoon to return after 15 years of self-imposed exile in 2023 and for his ally Srettha to become prime minister on the same day.
Srettha had maintained that his appointment of former Shinawatra lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was briefly jailed for contempt of court in 2008 over an alleged attempt to bribe court staff, was legitimate. The bribery allegation was never proven and Pichit resigned in May.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai is expected to take over as acting prime minister.
