By Thai Newsroom Reporters
SRETTHA THAVISIN was today (Aug 14) immediately deprived of his status as prime minister at an order of the Constitutional Court under an impeachment lawsuit.
The Constitutional Court judges voted 5:4 to remove the Pheu Thai-attached Srettha from his elected premiership as he was finally found guilty of having severely breached the constitution and code of political ethics thus, being legally impeached with the immediate loss of his prime-ministerial status.
Srettha has run the country under a Pheu Thai-led coalition government for a week short of a one-year period after he had been named prime minister by a majority of lawmakers following last year’s general election in which he had contested as a Pheu Thai contender for head of government alongside partisan running mates namely Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Pheu Thai MP Chaikasem Nitisiri.
The impeached prime minister had named Pichit Chuenban, a former convict and former lawyer previously hired by de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra a minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office in a cabinet lineup earlier this year was finally ruled guilty by the Constitutional Court all judges of which had been named by the 2014 coup junta and former junta-named senators.
Though Pichit had apparently resigned under pressure from the de facto Pheu Thai boss who had allegedly attempted to award him with the portfolioless ministership, the questionable act on the part of the former real estate mogul-turned-prime minister had been judged by court as an irreversible fait accompli.
Meanwhile, a new prime minister to replace Srettha is yet to be named and legally endorsed by a majority of MPs shortly.
Those who are more or less speculated to be named the new prime minister include either one of the couple of Pheu Thai candidates, namely Thaksin’s sister Paetongtarn and Chaikasem, Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul, Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan and Ruam Thai Sang Chart leader Pirapan Salirathawipark.
The Pheu Thai remains as core of the current coalition government whilst the Bhumjaithai, Palang Pracharath and Ruam Thai Sang Chart are the second, third and fourth largest coalition partners respectively.
Shortly after his homecoming last August, the billionaire Thaksin had allegedly clandestinely played a pivotal role in the power play to set up the Pheu Thai-led coalition, allocation of cabinet portfolios among coalition partners and naming of Pheu Thai members as ministers.
Thaksin’s sister/fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra had allegedly quietly pushed Srettha with whom she had been personally associated for a one-year rise to power.
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Srettha Thavisin. Top photo: Amarin TV, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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