Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday (August 14) dismissed the 62-year-old Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.
The decision from the nine-member bench also torpedoed Srettha’s troubled government, which has failed to gain support inside parliament and among the Thai public despite months of efforts to spur economic growth. The ruling has cast doubt on Srettha’s policies, including a controversial US$13.8 billion digital handout to businesses and citizens to spur economic growth.
The case against Srettha was filed in May by a group of 40 military-appointed former senators, who sought to remove him from office due to the Cabinet appointment of Pichit Chuenban, a close aide to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Real estate tycoon Srettha becomes the fourth Thai premier in 16 years to be removed in verdicts by the same court, after its judges ruled 5-4 in favour of dismissing him for failing to perform his duty with integrity.Srettha’s popularity has declined in recent months, polls showed, as his key economic policies have faced opposition and delays.
Although, Srettha’s appointment to the top job last August ended three months of political deadlock after the 2023 elections but resulted in his Pheu Thai party entering a governing coalition with its longtime military rivals.
So, who is he? Born in 1963, Srettha has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University and a master’s of business administration from the Claremont Graduate School in the United States.
He began his career as an assistant manager at the multinational Procter & Gamble in Thailand before joining Sansiri, his family’s property development business. He served as the president and chief executive of the company until he stepped down in April 2023 ahead of the election.
Before starting his political career, Srettha was a high-profile critic of the outgoing government headed by Prayuth, who as army commander staged a coup that toppled a Pheu Thai government led by Thaksin’s sister Yingluck in 2014 and who returned as prime minister after a 2019 election. Srettha was among dozens of opposition politicians, academics and activists who were summoned by Prayuth’s junta for interrogation shortly after the coup.
He is also a confidant of self-exiled billionaire and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family founded Pheu Thai, Srettha is well-liked in the business community.
Srettha’s Pheu Thai Party and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand’s turmoil, with two of its governments removed by coups in a long-running grudge match between the party’s founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.
His removal after less than a year in power implies the Thai Parliament must convene to choose a new premier. The uncertainty opens prospects for political upheaval in a country that has seen coups and court rulings bring down governments and political parties in the last two decades.
The decision to remove Srettha comes at a time when Thailand’s economy is struggling with weak exports and consumer spending, high household debt, and small businesses facing issues getting loans.
The ruling underlines the central role Thailand’s judiciary has played in politics. Last week, Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward Party, ruling that its campaign to reform a law against insulting the crown risked undermining the constitutional monarchy. The members of the party regrouped under a new banner, the People’s Party.
A new government must now be formed, and the ruling Pheu Thai-led coalition will nominate a new candidate for prime minister, which will be voted on by the 500-seat parliament.
The next premier would need to have been nominated a prime ministerial candidate by their parties prior to the 2023 election, with Thaksin’s 37-year-old daughter and party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra among PheuThai’s options.
Speaking after the decision, Srettha said he performed his duty as prime minister as best he could, and said he “accepts the verdict.” He added that he was unsure whether the next government would continue with his policies.
