Explainer | Thailand’s Srettha next in firing line as country struggles to shrug off political chaos

All you need to know about two decades of political upheavals in the kingdom

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If Thailand’s Srettha Thavisin is removed from office, the ruling Pheu Thai would have to nominate a new candidate for prime minister. Photo: AP

Aidan Jones

Published: 4:30pm, 13 Aug 2024Updated: 7:08pm, 13 Aug 2024

August has brought fresh political drama to Thailand and judges are at the heart of it.

The most popular party, the reformist Move Forward, was dissolved by the nine-member Constitutional Court last week. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai party is set for a showdown on Wednesday with the same bench which could see him booted from office after barely a year, an outcome which would also end his government.

Here is an explainer of what is going in Thailand, a kingdom where judges and the elderly conservative power holders whose interests they underpin, can’t – or won’t – find an off-ramp from two decades of political chaos:

PM in peril?

Srettha faces an abrupt exit from office if the Constitutional Court decides that he violated ethical standards by appointing a lawyer to a cabinet post despite a previous stint in jail.

The lawyer, Pichit Chuenban, once represented Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire two-time prime minister who still wields considerable influence despite his advancing years (75) and lack of formal political role.

Srettha, a real estate tycoon with no previous frontline political role, denies wrongdoing and appears confident he will survive Wednesday’s ruling.

He emerged as prime minister after last May’s election, despite his Pheu Thai party unexpectedly losing the election as voters overwhelmingly backed the radical reform agenda of the now-dissolved Move Forward party.