KUALA LUMPUR — Thailand was thrust into political uncertainty today after the Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for an ethics violation, cutting short her one-year premiership and delivering another heavy blow to the country’s most influential political dynasty.
Paetongtarn, 39, Thailand’s youngest prime minister and daughter of exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, was found guilty of breaching ethics over a leaked June phone call in which she was recorded deferring to Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen amid rising border tensions. Weeks later, fighting erupted between the two neighbours, lasting five days.
The ruling makes her the sixth Shinawatra-backed leader toppled by Thailand’s powerful judiciary or military, underscoring the long-running clash between elected governments aligned with the family and entrenched conservative and royalist elites.
Parliament must now elect a new prime minister, a process expected to be fraught with backroom bargaining. Until then, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and the Cabinet will serve in a caretaker capacity.
Only five candidates are eligible for the premiership, including Pheu Thai’s Chaikasem Nitisiri, a 77-year-old former attorney general with little political prominence.
Potential rivals include former coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha, now retired from politics, and Anutin Charnvirakul, whose party deserted Paetongtarn’s coalition after the phone call scandal.
The political vacuum threatens to destabilise Pheu Thai’s fragile governing alliance, already weakened by the court’s decision, while the opposition continues to gain momentum amid public frustration over stalled reforms and an economy forecast to grow just 2.3% this year.
“Appointing a new prime minister will be difficult and may take considerable time,” Stithorn Thananithichot, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, as quoted by CNA.
“It’s not easy for all parties to align their interests. Pheu Thai will be at a disadvantage.” — August 29, 2025