Thailand’s Prime Minister Suspended Over Leaked Phone Call

The constitutional court of Thailand has suspended the nation’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as she faces mounting pressure to resign over her phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. Knewz.com has learned that the leaked phone conversation, in which Paetongtarn referred to former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as “uncle” and criticized a Thai military commander, sparked public backlash and a petition for her dismissal.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Suspended

The Constitutional Court voted 7-2 to suspend Paetongtarn while it considers whether she violated Thai law or national interest. She has 15 days to submit her defense. During the suspension, the Deputy Prime Minister will serve as the acting Prime Minister. However, Paetongtarn will remain in the cabinet as Culture Minister, following a reshuffle that was approved hours before the suspension was announced.

It is worth noting that the Prime Minister has defended the phone call, which she said was meant to defuse tensions over a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. A Cambodian soldier was killed in May, escalating tensions along the long-disputed border.

In a public statement, she said her intentions were to avoid violence and maintain peace. “I had no intent to do it for my own interest. I only thought about how to avoid chaos, avoid fighting and to avoid loss of lives… If you listened to it carefully, you’d understand that I didn’t have ill intentions. This is what I’ll focus and spend time on explaining thoroughly,” she said in the statement. However, conservative politicians accused her of appeasing Hun Sen and undermining Thailand’s military.

Thailand’s Prime Minister is the Third Member of Her Family to Face Removal from Power

Paetongtarn is Thailand’s youngest leader and only the second woman to be the Prime Minister. However, she is also the third member of the Shinawatra family to face removal from power before completing a term. According to reports, her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by a military coup in 2006, and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, was removed by court order in 2014. She herself rose to power in August 2024 after the dismissal of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, who was removed for appointing a former convict to his cabinet.

Her Own Position in Government is Teetering

Struggling to revive a weak economy, Paetongtarn has seen her approval rating plummet to 9.2% in June, down from 30.9% in March. Furthermore, her ruling coalition is already teetering with a slim majority after a key conservative ally abandoned it two weeks ago, according to reports. If removed, she would become the second Pheu Thai prime minister dismissed within a year. Currently, her father, Thaksin, is fighting charges of insulting the monarchy over an interview he gave to a South Korean newspaper nine years ago. It is worth noting that Thaksin returned to Thailand in 2023 after 15 years in exile, and is the most high-profile figure to face charges under the country’s notorious lese majeste law.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court Has Dissolved 34 Parties Since 2006

It has been reported that the constitutional court of Thailand has dissolved 34 parties since 2006, including the reformist Move Forward, which won the most seats and votes in the 2023 election but was blocked from forming the government.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political science lecturer at Ubon Ratchathani University, said in a statement, “This has become a pattern in Thai politics… a part of the Thai political culture, which is not what a true political process is supposed to be… The suspension by court order shouldn’t have happened but most people could see its legitimacy because the leaked conversation really made people question if the PM was genuinely defending the interest of the country.”

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