Paetongtarn Shinawatra Suspended as Prime Minister
Suriya Juangroongrueangkit takes over as acting PM
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from her duties by the Constitutional Court today. The Court unanimously voted to accept the Senate President’s petition that the prime minister violated ethical standards during her phone call with Hun Sen, and then in a 7-2 vote decided to suspend her as prime minister until they render a verdict.
Regarding the request to order the respondent to cease performing the duties of Prime Minister, the Constitutional Court, by a majority vote (7 to 2), deemed that there was sufficient reason to suspect the respondent was involved in a case as alleged under Section 170, paragraph three, combined with Section 82, paragraph two of the Constitution.
Therefore, the Court has ordered the respondent to suspend their duties as Prime Minister effective from July 1, 2025, until the Constitutional Court issues a final ruling. The petitioner and the respondent have been informed of this decision.
The suspension comes immediately after Paetongtarn’s cabinet reshuffle was endorsed by His Majesty the King and announced in the Royal Gazette. This particular moment means that the government’s usual contingency plans cannot proceed; normally, the most senior deputy prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, would take over as acting prime minister (as he did after Srettha Thavisin was removed last year). However, the cabinet reshuffle had removed Phumtham from the cabinet in order to appoint him to his new post as Minister of Interior, and so for now he holds no position and cannot fill in for Paetongtarn. This means that the second most senior deputy prime minister, Suriya Juangroongrueangkit, will be Thailand’s acting prime minister. Phumtham will likely take over as acting prime minister after he is sworn back in as deputy prime minister once again.
This court decision thrusts Thailand into even greater uncertainty. Most importantly, will the prime minister be removed from office? A vote to suspend is not necessarily a sign that the Constitutional Court will vote to remove the prime minister. Former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was also suspended as prime minister in 2022 as the Constitutional Court considered whether or not he had exceeded the constitutional term limit, but eventually voted in favor of him continuing. But it will be worrying to Paetongtarn that the vote was not particularly close (7 to 2), where Prayut was suspended by a much narrower vote of 5 to 4. This is potentially a little premature to say, but there is a sense that this is the beginning of the end for the long political domination of the Shinawatras in Thailand.
I have two other technical questions about the immediate political future as well:
Can the prime minister attend cabinet? In 2022, Prayut continued to attend cabinet meetings as he had a concurrent role as Minister of Defense. Paetongtarn had appointed herself as Minister of Culture, to be served concurrently with her role as prime minister, in a move that many suspected was done to allow her to continue attending cabinet meetings while she was suspended. She has not yet been sworn in to this role. The Thai government is arguing that she can proceed with her duties at the Culture Ministry while the case is pending. Some reports say that the Secretariat of the Cabinet (a bureaucratic body) has expressed concerns because there has never been a case before where an acting prime minister has led a swearing-in of ministers before, but the Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office says that this is legal.1 There are also additional questions about whether an individual whose ethical conduct is being questioned can actually continue to serve in their concurrent ministerial roles, and that legal debate will surely occur over the days to come.
And what are the powers of the acting prime minister? The People’s Party has continued to demand a dissolution of parliament. While serving as deputy prime minister, the legal expert Vissanu Kruea-ngarm said that it is possible for an acting prime minister to dissolve parliament as they have all the powers of the prime minister. I expect there to be disagreement on that matter, however, although we do not expect Pheu Thai to seek a new election at this moment when they are way behind in the polls. But if Paetongtarn is removed from office and parliament struggles with finding a broadly acceptable candidate out of the remaining options in the bank of candidates, this question will become very important indeed.
In Other News…
The new cabinet lineup was confirmed today, and there were only minor changes to what was earlier reported. However, it is noteworthy that the Minister of Defense post was left vacant, with General Natthaphon Narkphanit continuing to deputize but for now taking on the acting responsibilities of a full minister. What explains this? The latest rumor is that the government is waiting to appoint General Chalermpol Srisuwat, the former Chief of Defence Forces, who cannot yet take on the role because of a constitutional stipulation that former senators cannot take on a new political position until two years after leaving office. (Chalermpol had been a senator until 2023, and he will be eligible for the cabinet on September 30th this year). According to Manager Online, Chalermpol is known to be close to the former army commander Apirat Kongsompong.
The Constitutional Court also rejected a petition on Bhumjaithai’s Senate collusion case, which ensures that the party will not be dissolved. This lifts one legal weight off Bhumjaithai’s shoulders, although the Constitutional Court appeared to say that other agencies can still investigate this issue. The Thai Enquirer summarized the court decision here.
It will be unprecedented to see the prime minister standing behind another minister as she is sworn in, however.