Thailand\u2019s Constitutional Court has suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who has come under mounting pressure to resign over her leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.<\/p>\n
The clip, in which Paetongtarn called him \u201cuncle\u201d and criticised a Thai military commander, sparked public anger and a petition for her dismissal, which the court is now considering.<\/p>\n
That would make Paetongtarn the third politician in the powerful Shinawatra clan \u2013 which has dominated Thai politics for the past two decades \u2013 to lose power before completing their term.<\/p>\n
Her ruling coalition is already teetering with a slim majority after a key conservative ally abandoned it two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court voted 7-2 to suspend her while they consider the case for her dismissal and she has 15 days to present her defence.<\/p>\n
In the meantime deputy PM Suriya Jungrungruangkit will serve as the country\u2019s acting leader.<\/p>\n
If she is eventually dismissed, Paetongtarn will be the second prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be removed from premiership since August last year.<\/p>\n
At that time, her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was dismissed for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who was once jailed.<\/p>\n
Days later Paetongtarn \u2013 whose father is Thailand\u2019s deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra \u2013 was sworn in as prime minister.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old remains Thailand\u2019s youngest leader and only the second woman to be PM after her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra.<\/p>\n
Already struggling to revive a weak economy, Paetongtarn saw her approval rating fall to 9.2% last weekend, down from 30.9% in March.<\/p>\n
She apologised for what she had said in the leaked call, defending it as a \u201cnegotiation technique\u201d over recent border disputes. But conservative lawmakers accused her of bowing down to Cambodia and undermining Thailand\u2019s military.<\/p>\n
The court\u2019s decision comes on the same day as Paetongtarn\u2019s father, who was seen as the driving force behind her government, battles his own political troubles.<\/p>\n
Thaksin is fighting charges of insulting the monarchy over an interview he gave to a South Korean newspaper nine years ago. His trial started on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The controversial political leader, who returned to Thailand in 2023 after 15 years in exile, is the most high-profile figure to face charges under the country\u2019s notorious lese majeste law.<\/p>\n
Thaksin\u2019s return was part of a grand compromise between Pheu Thai and its former conservative foes.<\/p>\n
They include the military, which deposed two Shinawatra governments in coups, and groups close to the monarchy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thailand\u2019s Constitutional Court has suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who has come under mounting pressure to resign over her leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. The clip, in which Paetongtarn called him \u201cuncle\u201d and criticised a Thai military commander, sparked public anger and a petition for her dismissal, which the court is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}