BANGKOK: Srettha , Thavisin won a parliamentary vote to be Thailand’s prime minister next August, after a closely-fought vote where his party had finished just next.
Just under a year later, the 62-year-old property tycoon-turned-politician was dismissed from the premiership by a court order on Wednesday ( Aug 14), plunging Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy into political turmoil.
Srettha’s ascendance to the highest elected status in the nation of at least 66 million people was almost as quick as his demise.
A former chief executive of Sansiri, one of Thailand’s largest real estate firms,  , Srettha , entered politics only a few weeks ahead of last May’s poll as a prime ministerial member for the populist Pheu Thai group.
Pheu Thai finished second in the elections, but the election-winning Move Forward party was blocked by military-appointed legislators from forming the government, leaving the door open for , Srettha , to scrape up a ruling coalition.
” It is an honour to get elected prime minister”, he told reporters after gaining political approval,” I’ll do my best”.
Despite his purposes,  , Srettha’s career has been marred by failures, with elections indicating a majority of Thais have an ugly view of his command.
In a June poll by the National Institute of Development Administration, just 12.85 per cent of respondents supported , Srettha’s management, down from 22.35 per cent in December.
His government’s premier plan- a 500 billion baht ( US$ 14.22 billion ) “digital budget” to give a 10, 000 baht handout to 50 million Thais- has been constantly delayed, with disbursements then expected to start in the third quarter.
STUTTERING ECONOMY
Some experts, including past central bankers, have called the system financially irresponsible, and the size of the handouts has drawn flames from the Bank of Thailand, which has also bickered with the authorities over key interest rates.
At the same time, the business, battered by the pandemic, is also struggling to pick up speed. In 2024, it is expected to expand by only 2.7 per share, according to Finance Ministry estimates, on the back of recovering visitor arrivals and export.
The Thai business sentiment index, which was affected by poor desire and negative debt issues, dropped to its lowest level in two years in June, with the important auto sector spluttering and production even falling.
Srettha , himself faced criticism for frequent globe-trotting during his first 10 months in office, having made 15 international trips in an attempt to drum up foreign investment, before vowing to remain in Thailand for two months.
” Once a prime destination for foreign capital, Thailand now faces increasing regional competition”, BMI said in a research note last month. ” Are the world’s economies in the form of major beneficiaries of changing investment patterns?
Sretta oversaw a cabinet shuffle in late April that resulted in his foreign minister resigning amid fighting along the Thai-Myanmar border, setting the stage for the court case that ultimately led to his dismissal.
His appointment of Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer for the politically powerful Shinawatra family, drew complaints from some lawmakers who were then members of a military-appointed Senate, the same body that helped , Srettha , take office.
The group of 40 conservative senators argued that the appointment did not meet ethical standards- a charge that the constitutional court has upheld, effectively ending , Srettha’s term.
Ahead of Wednesday’s decision,  , Srettha’s chief of staff, Prommin Lertsuridej, told Reuters that the result of a series of measures implemented by the government to support the economy would soon become clear. ” It takes some time”, he said.
The premier, however, has none left.