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Thai Constitutional Court Removes PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra?
Transcript of the above video:
This video suggests we are discussing the verdict in the Paetongtarn Shinawatra case. It appears that she has been removed from office. We are actually sitting here at this moment. The verdict is still being read, and admittedly this is kind of a bit of a long process going through this, it's all in Thai. That said going to an English language source and we were looking for one that is one I can fall back on when making these videos, Khaosod English, that is Khaosod English on Twitter, quoting directly: "PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra was found guilty of violating the Constitution by the Constitutional Court during the audio clip between her and the Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen. The Court cited Paetongtarn's saying to Hun Sen that the Second Army Region Commander Lt Gen Boonsin Padklang is on the opposite side of her "demonstrated the weakness of domestic Thai Politics". The Court also stated that the PM made an open-ended concession to Hun Sen and will benefit Hun Sen wothout" - sorry I think that they meant "without" - "considering Thai "National Security" in an attempt to salvage her popularity, thus placing her personal benefits above national benefits." So that is Khao Sod English reporting that, yes, she has in fact been removed, so we went ahead and are making this video in order to update folks on what this means.
Now sort of getting to what does the aftermath, what's that going to look like? Well we have some precedent for this having just gone through roughly a year ago Mr. Srettha being removed from office. In that instance a caretaker government was immediately installed. It is my understanding the Cabinet is immediately vacated - understand this is my understanding - the Cabinet is immediately vacated, and a caretaker government is put in place. That appears to be what will be happening moving forward. What exactly will happen with regard to the caretaker government and then thereafter remains to be seen. It's my understanding they will have to convene some sort of meeting of Parliament in order to make a decision on who will be the next Prime Minister, and they will be drawing from the slate of Prime Ministerial candidates. There is one candidate currently from the Phue Thai Party still on the slate; there is another from Bhumjaithai, another from UTN. So there are five total I believe. It remains to be seen who exactly could end up being the next Prime Minister in Thailand.
But for now it appears, at least as of the time of this video, Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been removed from office from the Constitutional Court here in Thailand, and we are seeing a caretaker government being put in place in the present or what was the present Cabinet. That said, we will be keeping people updated on this channel as this situation evolves.
