[Source: Reuters]

Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and ruled he “grossly” violated ethics by appointing a minister who was once jailed, raising the spectre of political upheaval and a shakeup in the governing alliance.

Real estate tycoon Srettha is the fourth premier in 16 years to be removed in verdicts by the same court, underlining the central role Thailand’s judiciary has played in its long political crisis.

Srettha’s exit after less than a year in power means parliament must choose a new premier on Friday, with the prospect of more uncertainty in a country dogged by coups and court rulings that have brought down multiple governments and political parties.

His Pheu Thai Party, the biggest in the coalition, moved quickly to try to shore up its alliance and said it would meet early on Thursday to choose its candidate for prime minister ahead of a special session of parliament to vote on a new premier.

Pheu Thai and its predecessors have borne the brunt of Thailand’s turmoil, with two governments removed by coups in a long-running grudge match between the party’s founders, the billionaire Shinawatra family, and their influential rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military.

The judges ruled 5-4 in favour of dismissing Srettha, saying he failed to perform his duty with integrity.

The decision was the court’s second bombshell in the space of a week following its dissolution of the opposition Move Forward Party – the 2023 election winner – over a campaign to amend a law against insulting the crown, which it said risked undermining the constitutional monarchy.

Move Forward has already regrouped as a new party, promising to further its anti-establishment agenda.

Both rulings came at a tricky time for an economy that Srettha struggled to jumpstart, with weak exports and consumer spending, sky-high household debt and more than a million businesses unable to access loans.

The government had estimated growth of just 2.7% for 2024, lagging regional peers, while Thailand stock market has been among Asia’s worst performers this year. It slipped 1.29% after the ruling before recovering to close 0.4% down.