Foreign

Thai court sacks PM over Cambodia phone call row

Thailand’s Constitutional Court has sacked Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her cabinet over her handling of the country’s border dispute with Cambodia.
The court’s decision, made on August 29, 2025, came after a leaked phone call between Paetongtarn and former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen sparked outrage in Thailand.
The phone call, which took place on June 15, 2025, was aimed at easing tensions over competing claims to territory along the border.
However, Paetongtarn’s comments in the call, including addressing Hun Sen as “uncle” and referring to a Thai military commander as her “opponent,” struck a nerve in Thailand.
Nationalist fervor was already running high over the border dispute, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests.
The court’s ruling, which was decided by a 6-3 majority, stated that Paetongtarn had not upheld the ethical standards required of a prime minister.
Her tenure as prime minister effectively ended with her suspension on July 1, 2025.
The decision has thrown Thailand into deep political uncertainty, with no obvious candidate to take over as premier.
Paetongtarn led an uneasy coalition with smaller conservative parties who were long bitterly opposed to her party, Pheu Thai.
The coalition’s stability was already precarious, and the court’s decision has further complicated the situation.
A new election seemed like an obvious solution, but it’s unclear whether the current acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai can call polls or if only a prime minister approved by parliament has the right to do so ² ³.
This is not the first time a Thai prime minister has been ousted over ethics issues.
Paetongtarn’s predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was removed from office in an unrelated ethics case last year.
Paetongtarn is the sixth prime minister from the political movement founded by her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, to face judgment by the Constitutional Court.
Only Thaksin himself has survived such proceedings.
AFP

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