Image: Reuters Berita 24 English -Wednesday, Thailand's Constitutional Court took away Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-official ocha's...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English -Wednesday, Thailand's Constitutional Court took away Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-official ocha's duties because it wanted to hear a petition to change the law that says he can only be in office for eight years.
The court's surprising move came after opposition parties asked that Prayuth's time as premier of the former military junta count toward the term limit. Prayuth was army chief when he first took power in a coup in 2014.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told reporters on Monday that Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan is likely to take over as interim leader.
Even though Prayuth could still be put back in charge after the court makes its decision, his suspension has thrown Thai politics into chaos, as a general election is coming up in May of next year.
In a statement to the media, the court said that Prayuth has 15 days to respond and that a panel of five judges voted to suspend him starting Wednesday.
"The court has looked at the petition and the documents that went with it, and it sees that the facts in the petition are enough to ask questions as asked," it said.
It was not clear when the court would make a final decision on the petition. The petition was filed by the main opposition party, which said that Prayuth's time as head of a military junta should count toward his eight-year term, as required by the constitution.
In 2014, Prayuth led a coup that overthrew an elected government. In 2019, he won an election held under a constitution written by the military.
In its request for a court review, the main opposition party said that Prayuth should leave office this month because his time as junta chief should count toward his term.
A recent poll showed that nearly two-thirds of Thais also want Prayuth to step down by the end of this month.
But some of his supporters say that his term started in 2017 when a new constitution went into effect or after the 2019 election. This means that if he is re-elected, he should be able to stay in power until 2025 or 2027.
The conflict is the latest in a country that has had political problems, like two coups and violent protests, on and off for almost 20 years.
This is mostly because people don't want the military to be involved in politics and because people are becoming more politically aware and want more representation.
