Bangkok: A Thai judge has determined that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s appointment of a convicted murderer to his Cabinet breached ethical standards, removing the troubled leading from strength after less than a year in office and reversing Thai politics ‘ relative chaos.
Even though Pichet had resigned swiftly, the Constitutional Court determined that Phichit Chuenban’s session, who had previously been imprisoned for attempting to pay court judges with cash in a case in a previous event against ex-premier and ruling Peua Thai group patron Thaksin Shinawatra, warranted his dismissal.
Srettha chose to visit a Bangkok city food industry instead of the court hearing. Srettha was widely reported to be in good spirits after the ruling, despite the president’s trusted legal advisor and democratic expert having indicated on Tuesday that his chances of winning may be slim.
What part, if any, did Thaksin play in the then tragic determination to reshuffle Phichit into Srettha’s reshuffled Cabinet, which was perhaps intended as a deliberate push at traditional competitors? The majority of the assistants, advisors, and appointees surrounding the political novice were well-known long-time Thaksin servants and loyalists, generally unknowable to Srettha.
Phumtham Wechayachai, the vice prime minister, and former Peua Thai brave Phumtham Wechayachai, is expected to hold the position of interim prime minister until a novel premier may be chosen by the political vote. Based on vote regulations, Peua Thai you nominate Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thaksin’s girl or ailing former justice minister Chaikasem Nitisiri for the position of top.
Thaksin and his ex-wife, however, were known to be reluctant to put their uncooked girl, who was female on the 2023 plan road and only recently appointed as Peua Thai’s head, in the line of fire so quick in her political career. That’s likely more the case now as the kingdom’s politics become even more volatile and uncertain.
Less well known is how Thaksin and Peua Thai leaders view the court’s decision against Srettha as a royal establishment warning against Thaksin’s overt politicking following his royal pardon for criminal convictions, which enabled him to avoid spending a single day in proper prison on weak health grounds.
Srettha presided over a coalition government that was established in a deal reached by Thaksin and palace officials in the name of national unity prior to the election of last year. In a political convenience marriage that successfully brought together Peua Thai and military parties, Thaksin was freed from 15 years of self-exile through what turned out to be a partial, not full, royal pardon.
The courts turned down Thaksin’s recent request to leave the kingdom for medical treatment in Dubai as he prepares for trial on a renewed lese majeste complaint over comments he made to media in 2016 that Thaksin likely believed had been buried by his royal pardon. Convictions under Thailand’s royal shield law allow for 15-year prison sentences.
Early bets thus favor Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the coalition’s second-ranking Bhumjaithai party who currently serves as interior minister, to become the next prime minister. Anutin served as health minister under the previous Prayut Chan-ocha military-steered government and has self-professed personal ties to King Vajiralongkorn.
Scion of a construction conglomerate, Anutin is widely seen as the face of Thailand’s wild and wooly experiment with marijuana legalization, with big and shady proponents of the trade in his Buriram province-based party, and came under fire for his perceived hamfisted handling of Thailand’s vaccine procurement at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anutin is now thought to be the choice of Bangkok’s conservative elite, who are largely unpopular due to the military-aligned Palang Pracharat and United Thai Nation parties ‘ poor results in the 2023 election. However, his Bhumjaithai embodies more yellow-garbed conservative legs than it actually do.
In retrospect, Thaksin’s meeting with Anutin in July at a provincial golf course, which was covered by local press reports, may have already brokered the backroom deal that would have allowed Anutin to become premier despite Bhumjaithai’s second-ranking coalition position and the numerous political and electoral advantages that come with leading government.
One long-standing diplomatic contact who spoke to Asia Times on the condition of anonymity had spoken to Thaksin about how unhappy he was with Srettha’s performance and how he felt he was before today’s ruling.
Some perceived the palace’s unusual use of royal decorations on Srettha ahead of Vajiralongkorn’s 72nd birthday celebrations as a covert endorsement of the premier’s even-keeled and deferential rule before the anticipated decision of the Constitutional Court.
The good-natured Srettha’s short tenure will be largely remembered as ineffective, largely as a result of the bureaucratic opposition that prevented the implementation of his digital wallet cash hand-out scheme and his inability to pique the interest of big new foreign investors in the country’s laggard economy, despite the fact that he failed to do so.
Thailand’s growth rate since Srettha took office in September 2018 was anemic 1.9 %, down from 2.5 % in 2022, and lagging behind regional rivals like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which have recently experienced booms and gained from the decoupling from China to Southeast Asia.
Peua Thai’s reputation as the business-minded party of economic growth and revival has been undermined by the economic underperformance of his original Thai Rak Thai, which was elected in 2001 with the slogan” think new, act new,” in the wake of declining opinion polls.  ,
The Constitutional Court’s decision to outlaw the election-winning, new-generation Move Forward party was made last week because its campaign call for reforming a royal defamation law was equivalent to trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy with the king as head of state.
11 party executives, including the well-known prime minister candidate and ex-party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who were all ex-party members for ten years, were removed from politics the day after Move Forward was resurrected under a new People’s Power party banner and with new leadership the following day.
The People’s Power party, a symbiotic nod to the military party that overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932, has pledged to continue pushing for monarchical, military, and monopolist big business reform, in stark contrast to Srettha’s apparent incompetence for the kingdom’s conservative royalist elite’s agenda.  ,