Thailand’s Constitutional Court has dismissed Paetongtarn Shinawatra from her position as prime minister over charges of serious ethical violations stemming from a private conversation with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen that surfaced in early June. Without an obvious successor, a leadership vacuum seemed inevitable. The People’s Party (PP) sought to break this impasse by offering to support any candidate willing to accept its conditions as the price of the premiership. Yet, that gambit, too, has set off a chaotic struggle for power. When Paetongtarn was first suspended in July, this author wrote that her dismissal would amount to “little more than a constitutional formality,” anticipating that Thai politics and its players would have already moved on as though her premiership was over before the court even made it official. What this author failed to predict was how quickly the aftermath would spiral into an open contest for the premiership. By the evening of the verdict on 29 August, the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) was already announcing a new coalition that coalesced behind its leader and prime ministerial candidate, Anutin Charnvirakul. The possibility of a smooth handoff to the Pheu Thai Party (PT)’s remaining prime ministerial candidate, Chaikasem Nitisiri, was ruled out even before it had a chance to rally MPs around his candidacy.
From Deadlock to Dealmaking: Thailand’s Chaotic Search for a New Prime Minister | FULCRUM
