Bangkok. Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday suspended Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The Supreme Court has decided to review the eight-year tenure of the PM. According to the news agency Reuters, the court made this announcement in a statement sent to the media. It is not yet clear when the court will give its final verdict on the petition filed by the main opposition party.
The opposition, in its petition, has said that his tenure as the head of the military junta should be counted as the PM’s constitutionally mandated eight-year term. Deputy PM Pravit Wongsuwan can take over as interim PM in place of Prayuth.
Former army chief Prayuth took power in 2014 by revolting against an elected government. After this, in the elections held in 2019, he was elected Prime Minister. These elections were held according to the draft constitution prepared by the then military government.
Thailand has been experiencing intermittent political turmoil for two decades. This is the latest development. There have been two coups and violent protests in these two decades. Elections may be held in the country next year.
Prior to this, Prayuth Chan-ocha faced a no-confidence motion in May. However, he won the no-confidence motion. The voting took place after four days of debate among 10 cabinet members. Prayut got 256 votes, while 206 votes were cast against him. At the same time, nine MPs were absent in the voting.
The opposition blamed the current government’s financial mismanagement for the rising government debt and failure to curb corruption. All 10 cabinet ministers also survived because of the current coalition government’s majority in parliament. Cholanan Srikaw, the head of the main opposition Phaeu Thai Party, said the results were disappointing because they did not reflect public sentiment.
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Tags: court, Thailand
First Published: August 24, 2022, 14:12 IST
