"BANGKOK Thailand's Constitutional Court on Friday dismissed Paetongtarn Shinawatra from her position as prime minister, ruling that as the country's leader she violated constitutional rules on ethics in a phone call with Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen. The ruling means she immediately loses her job, which she had held for about a year. Paetongtarn was suspended from her duties on July 1 when the court agreed to hear the case against her, and Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai took over her responsibilities."
"Paetongtarn's leaked June 15 call with Hun Sen was aimed at easing tensions over competing claims to territory along their border, but sparked outrage in Thailand because Paetongtarn seemed overly friendly in discussing a matter of national security and appeared to malign a Thai army general. Audio of the call was leaked online by Hun Sen, who was Cambodia's prime minister for 38 years until his son Hun Manet took over the job in 2023."
"It is also a blow to the political machine of Paetongtarn's father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted from power by a 2006 military coup but has managed to remain a dominant force in Thai politics, chiefly by supporting proxy parties such as Pheu Thai."
Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister for violating constitutional ethics in a phone call with Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen, causing her immediate removal. She had been suspended July 1 and Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai assumed responsibilities. The leaked June 15 call aimed to ease border tensions but provoked outrage by seeming overly friendly on national security and maligning a Thai army general; Hun Sen leaked the audio. The call followed a May incident in which a Cambodian soldier was killed and five days of late-June combat that caused dozens of deaths and displaced over 260,000. The ruling destabilizes the Pheu Thai-led coalition after Bhumjaithai withdrew, weakening ties to Thaksin Shinawatra's political network.
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