Prime Minister Seta Dismissed... Steps Down After Just One Year in Office
The Constitutional Court of Thailand has decided to dismiss Prime Minister Seta Tawisin. It ruled that appointing a person who was sentenced to prison for bribery as a minister is unconstitutional.
According to major foreign media, on the 14th, the Constitutional Court accepted the claim of some senators that Prime Minister Seta's appointment of a person sentenced to prison in a 'bribery scandal' as a minister was unconstitutional, and decided to dismiss Prime Minister Seta. As a result, Prime Minister Seta will step down after one year in office.
Earlier, Prime Minister Seta became embroiled in a constitutional controversy when he appointed lawyer Pichit Chuenban, a close aide of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as Minister of the Prime Minister's Office in April.
Pichit was caught attempting to deliver a bribe of 2 million baht (approximately 78 million won) to a Supreme Court official while defending former Prime Minister Thaksin and his wife, and was sentenced to six months in prison in 2008.
In response, 40 senators appointed by the former military regime petitioned the Constitutional Court in May, requesting the dismissal of Prime Minister Seta and Minister Pichit, arguing that Pichit's appointment violated the constitution. Amid the controversy, Minister Pichit resigned.
Following the Constitutional Court's order on the 7th to dissolve the Move Forward Party (MFP), Thailand's largest party, on charges that its push to amend the lese-majeste law was considered an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, and now the dismissal of the prime minister, political turmoil is expected to continue.
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