Thailand's Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a phone call with Cambodia's former leader, a verdict that could end the Shinawatra dynasty's political influence and trigger early elections. An unfavorable ruling would make her the fifth prime minister since 2008 to be removed by judicial action. Paetongtarn and her father Thaksin face multiple high-stakes legal cases, including one linked to Thaksin's 2023 return. Thaksin was recently acquitted in an insulting-monarchy case. The Pheu Thai coalition's failure to deliver economic pledges and a leaked conversation have weakened the Shinawatra brand.
Thailand's Constitutional Court is to decide whether to remove suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office over a phone call with Cambodia's former leader in a ruling that could deal a fatal blow to the embattled Shinawatra dynasty and plunge the Southeast Asian kingdom into political turmoil. An unfavourable verdict for Paetongtarn on Friday would make her the fifth prime minister since 2008 to be stripped of office by Thailand's judges, who critics say defend the interests of the country's royalist-military establishment.
The move could also potentially pave the way for early elections. Friday's ruling is also the second in three high-stakes court cases against Paetongtarn, 39, and her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The 76-year-old billionaire, who is a hero to the country's rural poor and who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, dodged a jail sentence last week when he was acquitted of insulting the country's powerful monarchy.
Even if Paetongtarn survives, analysts said the saga, as well as the failure of her Pheu Thai party-led coalition to deliver on key economic pledges, has left the Shinawatra brand in peril. I think that the Shinawatra brand is done for, said Napon Jatusripitak, visiting fellow and acting coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Pheu Thai depends very much on the Shinawatra legacy. Even the charismatic leadership that Thaksin is often associated with has been chipped away by Paetongtarn's naivete that has been put on public spectacle on a global scale, he said, referring to her leaked conversation with former Cambodian
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