Thai court suspends PM Prayuth, stoking intrigue as vote nears

Bloomberg

Eight years ago, then-army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha staged a coup in Thailand and ripped up the constitution. On Tuesday, he was suspended as prime minister until a court determines whether he violated the new charter produced by his allies.
The surprise action by Thailand’s Constitutional Court puts Prayuth on the sidelines at least temporarily until it rules on whether he breached an eight-year term limit, which his opponents say began after he seized power in 2014. Prayuth stayed on as prime minister following a 2019 election under rules that heavily favored his military-aligned political group.
His suspension by the court, whose members are approved by the military-appointed Senate, raises questions now about whether Thailand’s power brokers are looking to replace him ahead of another election that must be called by March 2023. And even if Prayuth ends up staying, any ruling would start the clock ticking on his tenure and put the focus on possible successors.
Either way, it’s unlikely the ruling will open the door for the military-backed ruling party to hand power to pro-democracy parties that have been repeatedly pushed aside over the past two decades. The new caretaker leader during Prayuth’s suspension is Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also a former army chief.
Prawit’s temporary elevation signals that he’s a potential candidate for the ruling Palang Pracharath to nominate as prime minister instead of Prayuth in the next election, according to Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political analyst with Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.