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Make or break time for Thailand’s Shinawatra clan as Paetongtarn faces removal from office
The suspended prime minister will find out if she can stay in office when the court rules on her phone call to Cambodia’s Hun Sen
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Thailand’s Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office for breaching ethics later on Friday, a ruling that threatens the survival of her family’s political dynasty and could unleash fresh chaos on the turbulent kingdom.
It is another make or break day in court for the Shinawatra family, which has been hugely influential in Thai politics for over two decades, but has faced coups and court rulings driven by the conservative establishment.
Thaksin, a two-time prime minister deposed by the military in 2006, returned from self-exile in 2023 as part of an apparent pact with his former enemies to block a popular reform party – the Move Forward Party (MFP) – from power.
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That deal – always uneasy – now appears to be unravelling.
The case against the suspended Paetongtarn, who represents the governing Pheu Thai party, rests on whether she breached ethical standards of office in a phone call with Cambodia’s ex-strongman leader, Hun Sen.
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The call, leaked in the middle of a border dispute between the neighbours, saw the 39-year-old refer to Hun Sen as “uncle” and condemn her own military commander on the border, sparking fury from Thais who accused her of betrayal of national interests.
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