A small hole, a big shipwreck!

(Baonghean) - On May 7th, the Constitutional Court of Thailand issued a stern ruling: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had committed unconstitutional crimes. This ruling served as the basis for the Constitutional Court's subsequent conclusion, which has a huge impact on Yingluck's political career and the Thai political landscape: she is forced to resign.

The trial was initiated after the court accepted a lawsuit filed by 27 Thai senators against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on April 2, 2014. The 27 senators argued that Yingluck's removal of National Security Director Thawil Pliensree in 2011 was unconstitutional. They also alleged that the Prime Minister abused her power by transferring him to a position without real authority. Despite facing pressure from government supporters who argued that the Thai Constitutional Court was always creating difficulties for the current government, and especially for Prime Minister Yingluck, the Constitutional Court ruled on May 7th that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had violated the constitution and was therefore unfit to hold office.

Based on the content of the lawsuit filed by 27 Thai MPs, the Constitutional Court, acting as the body directly responsible for ensuring the consistency of the legal system and the constitutionality of the executive branch, concluded that the Prime Minister violated the constitution when she transferred the Chairman of the National Security Council in 2011 to allow someone from her faction to take his place. At the trial, the judges unanimously agreed that Yingluck had abused her position as Prime Minister to interfere in the transfer of the Chairman of the National Security Council in 2011 for her own benefit. Chief Justice Charoon Intachan stated on television: "Yingluck's title is revoked; she is no longer a Prime Minister."

In the Constitutional Court ruling, not only the head of the cabinet but also several ministers who had supported the 2011 reshuffle were forced to resign. This will undoubtedly cause major upheaval in Thai politics, primarily by the possibility that a large part of the current cabinet will have to leave their positions to make way for power struggles that are already very complex and divisive.

Yingluck Shinawatra is the youngest of nine children of Lert Shinawatra and a member of a politically powerful family. In August 2011, she became the 28th Prime Minister of Thailand and the country's first female Prime Minister at the age of 44. She is considered a replica of her brother Thaksin Shinawatra – the former prime minister who was ousted. While she is believed to have received significant support from Thaksin, she also faced many challenges and difficulties due to accusations that her government was being manipulated by Thaksin.

On May 16, 2011, she was nominated by the Pheu Thai Party as its candidate for prime minister ahead of the general election on July 3, 2011. Although Yingluck had previously denied the position of party leader and expressed her unwillingness to become prime minister, preferring to focus on business, the 2006 coup against Thaksin Shinawatra changed her mind and led her into politics quite... by chance.

During her time in power, Thailand's first female prime minister faced immense pressure that stirred up the political arena, culminating in numerous prolonged protests that sometimes escalated into conflict and crisis. However, a paradoxical situation occurred that surprised everyone. Despite immense difficulties such as: approving a compensation fund for victims of the recent political upheaval, allocating 2 billion baht to the families of those who died, were injured, or wrongfully arrested; implementing a rice subsidy policy – ​​buying rice from farmers at prices higher than the market rate to boost rural incomes, which hampered Thai exports; the political amnesty bill introduced by Yingluck's government in 2013; and protests from rice farmers over the government's debt of more than 100 billion baht… none of these could deter the Prime Minister. A single personnel reassignment decision (removing Thawil Pliensree from his position as National Security Director in 2011) forced her into legal trouble and resulted in an irreversible outcome: being declared forced to resign.

The Constitutional Court's ruling will undoubtedly push into a new and complicated process: Government supporters threaten action if the courts force the prime minister out of office, while the anti-government faction continues to hold large-scale protests. Thus, the political tensions that have lasted for the past six months in Thailand show no signs of abating and could even become more chaotic.

Chi Linh Son