{"id":120566,"date":"2025-08-29T16:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/08\/29\/thai-court-removes-pm-over-leaked-phone-call-with-cambodian-leader\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:03:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:03:05","slug":"thai-court-removes-pm-over-leaked-phone-call-with-cambodian-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/thai-court-removes-pm-over-leaked-phone-call-with-cambodian-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Thai court removes PM over leaked phone call with Cambodian leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thailand\u2019s prime minister has been removed by the Constitutional Court, plunging the country\u2019s politics into turmoil and dealing a blow to its most powerful political dynasty.<\/p>\n

Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed for violating ethics in a leaked June phone call, where she could be heard calling Cambodia\u2019s former leader Hun Sen \u201cuncle\u201d and criticising the Thai army, amid worsening border tensions with Cambodia.<\/p>\n

The call, leaked by Hun Sen himself, damaged her reputation and critics accused her of undermining the country\u2019s army.<\/p>\n

The ruling makes Paetongtarn, the daughter of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, the fifth prime minister to be removed from office by the court since 2008.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the court\u2019s nine judges voted six to three against Paetongtarn, ruling that her actions had violated ethical standards expected of her office.<\/p>\n

The court said that Paetongtarn possessed a \u201cpersonal relationship\u201d that \u201cappeared to align with Cambodia\u201d and dismissed her claims that the call was a \u201cpersonal negotiation to\u2026 bring back peace without using violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a ruling, it said \u201ccaused the public to cast doubt\u201d on whether her actions \u201cwould benefit Cambodia more than the nation\u2019s interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Paetongtarn acknowledged the court\u2019s verdict but insisted she was trying to save lives.<\/p>\n

Her call with Hun Sen<\/a>, at one time a close friend of her father, came as tensions rose on the Thai-Cambodia border, which weeks later erupted into a five-day conflict in which dozens of people were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes.<\/p>\n

Paetongtarn, 39, had only joined Pheu Thai in 2021 and rose to power after her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was dismissed by the Constitutional Court for appointing an ally to his Cabinet who had been jailed for trying to bribe a judge.<\/p>\n

Hours after she was dismissed, her one-time collation partner, the conservative Bhumjaithai party, announced it had enough support from other parties to get the votes needed to form a new government under leader Anutin Charnvirakul.<\/p>\n

The party had earlier outlined its priorities, including resolving the border dispute with Cambodia and dissolving parliament within the next four months.<\/p>\n

The powerful Shinawatra family have presided over several Thai governments \u2013 and Paetongtarn\u2019s removal is a blow to their political dynasty.<\/p>\n

She becomes the third Shinawatra to have their premiership cut short: her father Thaksin was deposed by a military coup in 2006 and her aunt Yingluck was also removed by the Constitutional Court in 2014.<\/p>\n

Despite his retirement from formal politics years ago, Thaksin remained hugely influential \u2013 though it\u2019s now unclear how much influence the Shinawatra name will now continue to bear.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thailand\u2019s prime minister has been removed by the Constitutional Court, plunging the country\u2019s politics into turmoil and dealing a blow to its most powerful political dynasty. Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed for violating ethics in a leaked June phone call, where she could be heard calling Cambodia\u2019s former leader Hun Sen \u201cuncle\u201d and criticising the Thai […]<\/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-120566","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\/120566","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=120566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}