A Thai court has dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who was once jailed.
The Constitutional Court ruled that Mr Srettha had violated the “rules on ethics” with “the display of defiant behaviour”.
The 62-year-old Srettha, who has been in power for less than a year, is the third PM in 16 years to be removed by the same court.
He will be replaced by an interim leader until Thailand’s parliament convenes to elect a new prime minister.
Mr Srettha’s dismissal means he has now gone the way of so many other parties and administrations in Thailand – felled by the disproportionate power of the country’s constitutional court.
Politics in Thailand is not known for its ethics; bribery is commonplace and ministers with more serious convictions have been allowed to serve in the past.
Most people in Thailand will see this as a political verdict, though exactly who was pushing for it is not yet clear.
In May the court had accepted a petition filed by some 40 senators asking to remove the PM from his position over his appointment of Pichit Chuenban – who was previously sentenced to six months in jail for attempted bribery.
On Wednesday, five of the nine judges ruled that Mr Srettha had indeed violated the ethics of his office by appointing a lawyer who had a criminal conviction to his cabinet, despite him quitting after just 19 days.
The vote for a new prime minister will involve plenty of backroom bargaining, while Thailand struggles to revive its faltering economy.
Credit: bbc.com
