Thai court to rule on suspended PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s dismissal

Thailand’s Constitutional Court is set to decide whether to remove suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office over a phone call with Cambodia’s former leader, in a ruling that could deal a further blow to the embattled Shinawatra dynasty and plunge the Southeast Asian kingdom into political turmoil.

An unfavourable verdict for Paetongtarn on Friday would make her the fifth prime minister since 2008 to be stripped of office by Thailand’s judges, who critics say defend the interests of the country’s royalist-military establishment.The move could also potentially pave the way for early elections.

Friday’s ruling is also the second in three high-stakes court cases against Paetongtarn, 39, and her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The 76-year-old billionaire, who is a hero to the country’s rural poor and who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, dodged a jail sentence last week when he was acquitted of insulting the country’s powerful monarchy.

But he still faces another case relating to his return to Thailand in 2023, after 16 years in self-imposed exile, which could land him back in prison.

Even if Paetongtarn survives, analysts said the saga, as well as the failure of her Pheu Thai party-led coalition to deliver on key economic pledges, has left the Shinawatra brand in peril.

“I think that the Shinawatra brand is done for,” said Napon Jatusripitak, visiting fellow and acting coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.‘A political case’
During the call, which took place after deadly border clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces in May, Paetongtarn was heard kowtowing to Hun Sen, a longtime friend of her father’s, and calling him “uncle” while criticising a senior Thai army commander and describing him as an “opponent”.