Thailand’s ruling party will meet on Thursday to choose a candidate for prime minister after a court removed incumbent Srettha Thavisin from office in an ethics dispute, deepening political uncertainty in the kingdom a week after the main opposition party dissolved.
The kingdom’s top court ruled on Wednesday that Srettha, 62, had violated regulations by appointing a cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.
Parliament is scheduled to meet at 10:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on Friday to vote on a replacement.
The Pheu Thai Party will choose one of its two candidates: former Justice Minister Chaikasem Nitisiri or Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Party Secretary General Sorawong Thienthong told reporters they would discuss their choice with coalition partners.
Srettha was the third Pheu Thai Party prime minister to be removed from office by the Constitutional Court and leaves office after less than a year.
Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability marked by coups, street protests and court rulings, much of it fuelled by the ongoing struggle between the military and the pro-royalist establishment against progressive parties with ties to Thaksin Shinawatra.
The case against Srettha was brought by 40 former senators appointed by the military junta that overthrew the elected Pheu Thai government in a coup in 2014.
The Senate also played a crucial role in preventing the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) from forming a government after it won a majority of votes in last year’s elections.
Senators alarmed by the MFP’s promises to reform lese majeste laws and break up powerful corporate monopolies refused to support then-leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister. The party was forced to go into opposition.
The Supreme Court dissolved the MFP last week and barred Pita and its key officials from politics for ten years.
Srettha failed to appoint Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer for billionaire Thaksin, the former owner of Manchester City and a long-time enemy of Thailand’s conservative elite.
Pichit, who was sentenced to six months in prison in 2008 for a corruption offence, left the cabinet after the case was filed to save Srettha, but the court did not let up.
tp-rma/fox
