Thai court dismisses Prime Minister for violating constitution

BBC - A Thai court has dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who was once jailed.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Mr Srettha had violated the "rules on ethics" with "the display of defiant behaviour".

The 67-year-old Srettha, who has been in power for less than a year, is the third PM in 16 years to be removed by the same court.

He will be replaced by an interim leader until Thailand's parliament convenes to elect a new prime minister.

“I’m confident in my honesty … I feel sorry, but I’m not saying I disagree with the ruling," he said at a press conference shortly after the ruling.

The verdict signals more political uncertainty for a country that has seen multiple coups, the last being in 2014 when the military seized power.

On Wednesday, the court voted five to four to remove Mr Srettha from office. The court's ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Earlier this May, the court had accepted a petition filed by some 40 senators asking to remove the PM from his position over his appointment of Pichit Chuenban - who was previously sentenced to six months in jail for attempted bribery.

Mr Sretta became prime minister despite his Pheu Thai party not emerging as the biggest winner in last year's election, which ended nine years of military rule in Thailand.

Voters delivered a stunning vcitory to the young, reformist Move Forward party, but it was blocked from forming the government by the military-appointed senate.

Pheu Thai then struck a deal with other army-backed parties to form a ruling coalition, freezing out Move Forward - and Mr Srettha found himself at the helm.

This is the latest in a series of recent high-profile rulings by the court.

Last week it dissolved the Move Forward party for making unconstitutional campaign promises and banned party leaders - 11 MPs - from politics for10 years.