WITH THE Constitutional Court having today (Aug. 13) announced that the verdict on an impeachment case against suspended Prime Minister/Culture Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a leaked telephone conversation with Cambodian leader Hun Sen about the border conflict is to be delivered on August 29, experts are now predicting that she will resign before then, Naewna newspaper quote former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn as saying in a Facebook post.
Somchai raised four points in his post on this key political development as follows:
– Over two months would have passed from the release of Paetongtarn-Hun Sen audio clip on July 18 to the ruling date and during this period her popularity has been declining consistently with excuses and other attempts to sway the public to no avail;
– The delay in delivering the verdict stems from extensions having been sought in submitting a statement and documents, leading to the court having to wait 35 days;
– The statement was finally delivered on Aug. 4 but that the verdict will be handed down on Aug. 29, a gap of 25 days, is partly due to the judges going on an overseas business trip during Aug. 4-9. Had they not gone on this trip the date for the ruling would have been on Aug. 22 which is too volatile a day as it is when the verdict on a lese majeste case against Paetongtarn’s father and de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra is being delivered;
– Over the next few days leading up to the vedict day keep an eye on whether Paetongtarn resigns with experts saying she will do so while Thaksin insists she is innocent and has no problems.
CAPTIONS:
Suspended prime minister/Culture Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Top photo:Amarin TV, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
Insert: Former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn. Photo: Thai Rath
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