Impact of Leaked Phone Call With Cambodian Leader Hun Sen Amid Border Dispute
Prime Minister Patongtan Chinnawat of Thailand, who had been suspended from her duties, has been removed from office after losing her dismissal case at the Constitutional Court.
Patongtan Chinnawat, daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Photo by AP Yonhap News
On August 29 (local time), the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled that Prime Minister Patongtan Chinnawat should be dismissed for violating constitutional ethics.
The panel of nine Constitutional Court justices stated that Prime Minister Patongtan Chinnawat failed to uphold the necessary ethical standards required of a prime minister during a phone call with Hun Sen, President of the Cambodian Senate and de facto leader of Cambodia.
Prime Minister Patongtan Chinnawat faced a crisis after it was revealed that, following a border clash between Thai and Cambodian forces at the end of May, she called President Hun Sen and made negative remarks about the Thai military commander in charge of the border, and the contents of this call were leaked.
Conservative senators filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, claiming she had violated constitutional ethics, and in early July, the court accepted the petition and suspended Prime Minister Patongtan Chinnawat from her duties until a ruling was made.
Since then, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Phumtham Wechayachai has served as acting prime minister, while Patongtan Chinnawat remained in the cabinet as Minister of Culture.
However, due to the Constitutional Court's decision on this day, Patongtan Chinnawat has stepped down as prime minister approximately one year after being appointed as the youngest prime minister in Thailand's history in August of last year.
Pheu Thai Party, the largest party in the ruling coalition and Patongtan Chinnawat's party, plans to elect a new prime minister.
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