BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over an ethical violation Wednesday, further shaking up Thai politics after ordering the dissolution of the main opposition party a week ago.
BYBANGKOK — Thailand's Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over an ethical violation Wednesday, further shaking up Thai politics after ordering the dissolution of the main opposition party a week ago.
Srettha said he respected the ruling and that he always sought to act ethically during his time in office, which was less than a year."I'm sorry that I'd be considered as a prime minister who's unethical, but I'd like to insist that I believe that is not who I am," he said. The petition against Srettha was initiated by former members of the military-installed Senate who had refused to approve Move Forward's prime ministerial candidate when the party was attempting to form a government after its election victory. It was seen as a move favoring a pro-military political party in his coalition government.
The Constitutional Court's rulings are"two judicial coups" that are"against international standards and upset the usual checks and balances in a democratic system," said Prajak Kongkirati, a political scientist at Bangkok's Thammasat University. In choosing a new prime minister, Parliament can select from candidates nominated for the post last year by the major political parties. The Pheu Thai party has two eligible candidates, including Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Srettha had appointed Pichit Chuenban in a Cabinet reshuffle in April. Pichit, jailed for six months in 2008 on contempt of court charges after allegedly trying to bribe a judge with 2 million baht in a grocery bag over a case involving Thaksin, resigned from his post weeks later, when controversy over the incident was revived.
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