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Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office as it ruled against him in an ethics case that throws the kingdom into fresh political turmoil.
Judge Punya Udchachon, reading the ruling, said the court voted five to four to remove Srettha from office over the appointment of a minister with a criminal conviction.
The ruling comes a week after the same court dissolved the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) and banned its former leader from politics for 10 years.
Srettha’s appointment showed he “has no honesty and breached ethical standards,” Judge Punya Udchachon said in reading the court’s judgment that “the ministerial position of the prime minister is terminated under the constitution”.
The court ruled that Srettha must have known about lawyer Pichit Chuenban’s 2008 conviction when he appointed him, Punya said.
Srettha leaves office after less than a year in the job – the third prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be kicked out by the Constitutional Court.
Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability, marked by coups, street protests and court orders, much of it energised by the long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and progressive parties linked to Pheu Thai patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will replace Srettha as a caretaker until parliament meets to choose a replacement.
Srettha said he was “sad” to be labelled dishonest, but would abide by the court’s decision.
“I respect the verdict. I reiterate that for the almost one year I have been in this role, I have tried with good intentions to lead the country with honesty,” Srettha told reporters outside his office.
Srettha was ousted over the appointment of Pichit, a lawyer associated with the family of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin – former Manchester City owner and longtime bete noire of the kingdom’s conservative pro-royalist, pro-military elite.
Pichit, sentenced to six months in jail in 2008 for a graft-related offence, quit the cabinet in a bid to save Srettha when the controversy arose earlier this year, but the court pressed ahead with the case.
Srettha came to power less than a year ago at the head of a coalition led by Pheu Thai, after striking a deal with army-linked parties.
The ruling highlights old divisions in Thai politics between the conservative establishment and progressive parties such as Pheu Thai and its new rival MFP.
