Thai court removes suspended PM Paetongtarn from office over leaked phone call with Cambodian leader

BANGKOK – A Thai court has permanently disqualified Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office over ethical misconduct in her handling of a border clash with Cambodia, thrusting Thailand deeper into political turmoil and upending the fortunes of the country’s most prominent political dynasty.

The nine-judge court found that she had violated ethical standards in a

controversial leaked phone conversation

with de facto Cambodian leader Hun Sen on June 15, as border tensions between the two countries were mounting.

In a 6-3 decision, the court said Ms Paetongtarn, who had been

provisionally suspended since July 1

, had undermined the integrity of the office and that she had placed personal political considerations over national interest.

“(Ms Paetongtarn) lacked demonstrable honesty and integrity, and seriously violated or failed to comply with ethical standards,” the court said in a statement on Aug 29.

In the call, Ms Paetongtarn is heard pleading with the Cambodian Senate president and former prime minister to help resolve tensions between the two countries, while promising to do whatever he asked in return. Adopting a deferential tone, she addressed Mr Hun Sen as “uncle”, while also appearing to criticise the Thai army and referring to one of her military commanders as an “opponent”.

Ms Paetongtarn later

apologised for her choice of words

, saying they were merely part of a negotiating strategy and that she was unaware she was being recorded.

“Due to a personal relationship that appeared aligned with Cambodia, the respondent was consistently willing to comply with or act in accordance with the wishes of the Cambodian side,” the court said.

In a brief address shortly after the verdict, Ms Paetongtarn said she accepted the court’s ruling but that it “caused yet another abrupt political change”.

She said she did not seek any personal benefit during the call with Mr Hun Sen and reiterated that she was seeking only to prevent a flaring up of

the border conflict

.

“As a Thai person, I insist on my sincerity and my genuine intention to work for the country all along,” she said.

“I’d like to reiterate to the people that what I adhered to the most is the lives of the people – be it soldiers or civilians. I truly intended with determination to save their lives.”

The verdict makes her the second Thai premier to be ousted by the Constitutional Court since the 2023 General Election. Ms Paetongtarn, a 39-year-old political novice and the kingdom’s youngest leader,

came into office in August 2024

after her predecessor and Shinawatra family ally Srettha Thavisin was removed from the prime minister post by the Constitutional Court, also for ethics violation.

After just one year in office, Ms Paetongtarn also becomes the third prime minister in the Shinawatra family to be removed from office without completing a full term. Her father Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a 2006 military coup and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra was forced out of office in 2014 on legal grounds two weeks before another military coup.

The leaked 17-minute recording ignited a major political scandal that sparked popular demonstrations calling for Ms Paetongtarn’s resignation. It led to the exit of the main partner from her government’s ruling coalition, the conservative Bhumjaithai Party, leaving her with a precariously

thin parliamentary majority

.

It also blew open an acrimonious feud between the two influential political families, with Thaksin and Mr Hun Sen

openly trading barbs

via their respective social media accounts, even as both countries’ militaries traded artillery strikes.

A group of senators submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court alleging Ms Paetongtarn had breached ethical standards and compromised the country’s sovereignty, and was not fit for office.

The Constitutional Court in 2024 also

dissolved the

progressive

Move Forward Party

– which won the most seats in the 2023 General Election – for its campaign to amend the country’s royal defamation law.

The court’s outsized role in Thailand’s democratic system has raised questions over the extent of influence from the country’s conservative pro-military and pro-monarchist establishment, including the Senate, which in turn appoints the Constitutional Court judges.

Ms Paetongtarn’s immediate removal from office will necessitate a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister; Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai is not eligible to take on the role permanently because he was not registered as a prime ministerial candidate at the 2023 election.

There are five candidates

who did register at the previous election and remain eligible for the top post, and political manoeuvring began in earnest immediately after it was clear Ms Paetongtarn had been removed.

The remaining candidate in the ruling Pheu Thai Party, after the dismissal of both Mr Srettha and Ms Paetongtarn, is 77-year-old former justice minister Chaikasem Nitisiri, who has pushed back against reports of his poor health.

Former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, 71, led Thailand for nearly a decade after ousting Ms Yingluck’s government in the 2014 coup. While now a privy councillor after retiring from politics, he remains eligible and is seen as a potential compromise candidate as he is limited to only two more years as prime minister under the Constitution.

Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul, 58, is also in the running and is seeking backing to form a new coalition comprising other defecting parties and even the progressive opposition People’s Party, which has already renewed calls for an early election to be held.

Also eligible are the leader of the conservative United Thai Nation, Mr Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, 66, and Mr Jurin Laksanawisit, 69, former leader of the Democrat Party.

A non-Pheu Thai candidate becoming prime minister, said political analyst Ken Lohatepanont, would “only add even more uncertainty into Thailand’s policymaking”.

“Any other candidate for prime minister would not have a sufficient base in Parliament to survive without support from larger parties,” Mr Lohatepanont said.

“Whoever the next prime minister is, he will become Thailand’s third in as many years. He will face a political landscape that is more chaotic and uncertain than any in recent memory,” he added.

Even before the Cambodian conflict and ensuing political scandal, Ms Paetongtarn had already been under pressure for her handling of Thailand’s economy, which

lags behind regional rivals’

and is being burdened further by new Trump administration tariffs. The political turmoil has also delayed key policy measures such as introducing cheaper public transport and other major economic legislation such as the annual budget.

Thaksin, the billionaire patriarch of the Shinawatra clan whose long-running clash with the conservative establishment has defined Thailand’s political landscape over the past two decades, is still widely seen as the driving force behind his daughter’s politics.

The 76-year-old, who

returned in 2023

after some 15 years in self-exile, was acquitted by a criminal court in Bangkok on Aug 22 of allegations that he had insulted the monarchy in an interview with a South Korean media outlet in 2015. His lawyer said the court dropped the case because the prosecution could not sufficiently prove his remarks were directed at the king.

Thaksin still

faces another court decision

in September over whether he satisfactorily served a one-year jail sentence relating to a corruption conviction, after he spent part of that time in a prison hospital before being released on medical parole without spending a single night in jail.