BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Friday for an ethics violation, in another crushing blow to the Shinawatra political dynasty that triggered a flurry of deal-making aimed at filling the void.
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.
The ruling 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 court said Paetongtarn violated ethics in a leaked June telephone call, during which she appeared to kowtow to Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen - until recently a close Shinawatra family ally - when both countries were on the brink of an armed conflict. Fighting erupted weeks later, lasting five days.
Hours after the decision, the Bhumjaithai Party that had quit Paetongtarn’s coalition over the call emerged as the early frontrunner in forming a new government, with leader Anutin Charnvirakul shuttling across Bangkok to rally support from parties, with pledges that included dissolving parliament within four months.
The ruling brings a premature end to the premiership of the daughter and protégé of divisive tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra and will be a major test of his outsized political clout. Paetongtarn, 39, was a political neophyte when she was abruptly thrust into power after the surprise dismissal of Srettha Thavisin by the same court.
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