Thai veteran politician set for single day as acting PM

BANGKOK - Thailand’s Acting Prime Minister is set to helm the country for only one full day on July 2, standing in for

suspended Premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra

before being replaced himself in a Cabinet reshuffle.

Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit began his engagements by attending a ceremony in Bangkok celebrating the longevity of the prime minister’s office.

The event marks the 93rd anniversary of the institution.

Mr Suriya is set to be in command for far fewer than 93 hours as Thailand reels from the suspension of Ms Paetongtarn, heiress of the country’s dominant political dynasty.

During a brief ceremony open to the media, Mr Suriya declined to respond to queries asking how he felt about his fleeting leadership, which caps a decades-long political career.

He said his most urgent business had been to “sign a paper” ensuring a smooth transition to his successor on July 3.

The Constitutional Court said on July 1 that there was “sufficient cause to suspect” that Ms Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics during a diplomatic spat with Cambodia, and suspended her pending a probe that could last for months.

‘I don’t know the guy’

Ms Paetongtarn, 38, is the daughter of political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family and party have been jousting with Thailand’s conservative establishment since the early 2000s.

Following her suspension, power immediately passed to Mr Suriya, 70, a veteran operator with a reputation in Thai media as a political weathervane for always aligning himself with the government of the day.

“I don’t really know the guy, but I don’t care any more who becomes prime minister,” 54-year-old motorbike taxi driver Paitoon Kaewdee told AFP.

“I’ve lost hope in Thai politics. I used to care a lot about politics and the Shinawatra family but now, it’s all the same.”

Mr Suriya’s time as acting premier is set to be cut short by a Cabinet reshuffle already scheduled before the court bombshell on July 1.

It takes effect in an oath-swearing ceremony scheduled on July 3, with Mr Suriya set to be superseded by incoming Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party said late on July 1 that Mr Phumtham will take over after the Cabinet reshuffle because he will receive a deputy prime minister title that is higher in the order of succession than Mr Suriya’s.

The “power vacuum at the top” may threaten Thailand’s bid for a trade deal to avert US President Donald Trump’s threat of a 36 per cent tariff, said Capital Economics senior Asia economist Gareth Leather.

“I want a new election,” said 40-year-old Bangkok office worker Chatchai Summabut. “This country needs stability.”

Waning influence

Ms Paetongtarn, who became prime minister in August 2024, assigned herself the culture minister position in the new Cabinet before she was suspended.

This means she is set to keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.

She, Mr Suriya and Mr Phumtham are all members of Pheu Thai, which came second in the 2023 election but secured power by forming an unsteady coalition with its former enemies in pro-military parties.

But analysts say her suspension represents a dramatic waning of the Shinawatras’ influence, even though the acting prime ministers are still considered their loyal lieutenants.

July 1 also saw the second day of Thaksin’s criminal trial for royal defamation, in which he faces a possible 15-year sentence if convicted.

Ms Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a longstanding territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over recently into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier.

When she made a diplomatic call to Cambodian former leader Hun Sen, she called him “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent”, according to

a leaked recording that caused widespread backlash.

A conservative party abandoned her ruling coalition – sparking the Cabinet reshuffle – while her approval rating plunged and thousands protested over the weekend.

Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the Thai military, entering a case with the Constitutional Court alleging she breached the Constitution’s ministerial ethics code. AFP