Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been removed from office for ethics violations after the Constitutional Court ruled 6-3 against her on Friday. She becomes Thailand’s sixth Prime Minister to be removed by a court or legal ruling since 2008 and the third from her own family to be removed since 2006.
As reported by local media outlet The Nation, the entire Cabinet has also been dismissed – throwing the country back into chaos while also putting paid to any immediate hopes of casino legislation being passed.
The court’s ruling, announced at 3pm on Friday afternoon, deemed that Paetongtarn was guilty of serious ethical misconduct during a phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen where she stated criticized the actions of the Thai army during a border conflict on 28 May that left a Cambodian soldier dead. That phone call was later leaked, with Paetongtarn suspended in early July based on a petition from 36 senators and pending the outcome of a court hearing.
The court ultimately determined that the Prime Minister did not demonstrate visible honesty and integrity, and that it had sufficient authority and responsibility under the Constitution to decide whether Paetongtarn’s position as Prime Minister had ended, The Nation reported.
She becomes the third member of her family to be removed from office after her father Thaksin in 2006 and auntie Yingluck in 2014. Pateongtarn assumed office in 2023 after her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was also dismissed by the Constitutional Court for an ethics violation.
Her removal effectively ends any hopes of the government’s Entertainment Complex Bill from ever seeing the light of day, having already been taken off the House agenda in July.
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