Bangkok: Thailand's constitutional court on Wednesday (August 24) took a big decision and suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha. The apex court has decided to review the tenure of the Prime Minister for eight years. According to media reports, the court has made this announcement in a statement sent to the media. However, it is not yet clear when the court will give a final decision on the petition filed by the main opposition party.

The opposition, in its petition, has said that his tenure as head of the military Junta should be counted as the eight-year tenure of the constitutionally determined prime minister. Prawit Wongsuwan is likely to take over as interim PM in place of Prayut. Prayut, a former army chief, rebelled against the elected government and took over the reins of power in 2014. After this, he was elected PM in the general elections held in 2019. These elections were held according to the draft constitution prepared by the then military government.

Thailand has been witnessing intermittent political turmoil for two decades. This is the latest development. There have been two coups and violent protests in these two decades. General elections are scheduled in the country by May next year. Earlier, Prayut Chan-Ocha faced a no-confidence vote in May. However, he won the no-confidence vote. The voting took place after a four-day debate over 10 cabinet members. Prayut got 256 votes, while 206 votes were cast against him. At the same time, nine MPs were absent from voting.

The opposition had blamed the economic mismanagement of the Prayut government for rising government debt and failure to check corruption. All 10 cabinet ministers also survived thanks to the current coalition government's majority in Parliament. Cholanan Srikaw, head of the main opposition Pheu Thai party, said the results were disappointing as they did not reflect public sentiment.

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