Thai PM’s suspension could spell end of Shinawatra clan’s era of political dominance

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra leaves after a cabinet meeting, as Thailand's Constitutional Court is expected to meet on Tuesday to consider a petition by 36 senators that accuses her of dishonesty and breaching ethnical standards in violation of the constitution over a leaked telephone conversation with Cambodia's influential former leader Hun Sen, at the Government House, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 1, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra leaves after a Cabinet meeting on July 1.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Philip Wen

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BANGKOK - As an ashen-faced Paetongtarn Shinawatra breezed past waiting reporters after a July 1 Cabinet briefing just hours before a Constitutional Court decision that temporarily suspended her from office, her influential father Thaksin Shinawatra also opted to keep a low profile while arriving for his separate court hearings over charges of royal defamation around the same time.

The concurrent legal challenges facing both father and daughter portend not just a symbolic turning point for the immediate future of Thailand’s government, but also the longer-term fortunes of the country’s most prominent political family and its one-time electoral powerhouse Pheu Thai Party.

Thai PM’s suspension could spell end of Shinawatra clan’s era of political dominance

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