Thailand (BN24) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office while it investigates whether she committed a serious ethics breach during a leaked phone call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen.
The nine-judge panel voted unanimously to accept the petition against Paetongtarn and, by a 7-2 margin, to bar her from performing prime ministerial duties while the case proceeds. She now has 15 days to submit evidence in her defense.
Paetongtarn, 38, has come under mounting criticism for her handling of a tense border dispute with Cambodia that erupted into armed clashes on May 28, leaving a Cambodian soldier dead. The leaked recording of her call with Hun Sen — in which she appeared to criticize a Thai regional army commander and express a willingness to appease Cambodia to defuse tensions — ignited protests and fractured her governing coalition.
Speaking after the ruling, Paetongtarn said she accepted the court’s process and would fight to clear her name.
“I only thought about how to avoid trouble, how to avoid armed confrontation, and how to keep our soldiers safe,” she said. “I could never accept saying anything that would cause negative consequences.”
She apologized to those angered by the controversy and departed Government House shortly after the suspension was announced.
Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungruangkit is expected to serve as acting prime minister, though no formal appointment has been confirmed.
Earlier in the day, King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed an emergency Cabinet reshuffle triggered when the Bhumjaithai Party, a key coalition partner, quit the government over the uproar. The reshuffle removed Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charvirakul as deputy prime minister. Paetongtarn was named culture minister in the new Cabinet but it remains unclear whether she can be sworn into that role while suspended as prime minister.
Public anger over the leaked call has been intense. Over the weekend, thousands of nationalist demonstrators marched in central Bangkok demanding her resignation.
In parallel, Paetongtarn also faces a separate ethics probe by the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which could also lead to her removal.
Thailand’s courts — especially the Constitutional Court — are widely seen as strongholds of the royalist establishment, frequently used to weaken or unseat elected governments aligned with the Shinawatra family. Her predecessor was removed last year over ethics violations, continuing a pattern dating back two decades.
The complaint was filed by senators elected last year to replace the military-appointed chamber created after the 2014 coup. Those senators have themselves faced allegations of manipulating the vote to install allies of Bhumjaithai.
Two of Paetongtarn’s ministers — Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong and former defense minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is slated to become interior minister — are also under court investigation over alleged abuse of power related to the Senate vote. The court in May partially suspended Tawee from overseeing the Department of Special Investigation, which is handling the case.
Paetongtarn is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist billionaire prime minister ousted in the 2006 coup. She is the third Shinawatra to hold the premiership after her father and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, who was deposed in the 2014 coup.
Thaksin, who returned to Thailand last year after years in exile, is facing multiple legal battles. On Tuesday, he attended a court hearing over a 2015 defamation case involving comments he made about the monarchy.
He is also under scrutiny over his brief stay in prison, which was quickly converted into hospital detention before he received a royal pardon that reduced his sentence to one year, of which he has served none behind bars. Critics say the arrangement allowed Thaksin to avoid accountability and have called for him to be sent to prison to serve the remainder of his term.
