BANGKOK (Reuters) – Four high-profile cases involving Thailand’s top politicians are due to go to court on Tuesday, the latest legal battles that could plunge Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy into a new era of uncertainty.
The cases implicate some of Thailand’s most powerful politicians, including the current prime minister, and could deepen a decades-old rift between the conservative, royalist establishment and opponents such as the populist ruling Pheu Thai Party and the Opposition Progress Party.
“The parties and representatives chosen by voters are being systematically and repeatedly sabotaged,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, told Reuters.
He outlined the power of the country’s courts, saying a single petition could topple a sitting elected government or oust a prime minister.
“Judicial heavy-handedness is damaging Thailand and subverting public opinion and public confidence.”
Such tensions have previously led to violent street protests, the dissolution of political parties, airport closures, military coups and crippled the economy.
Thailand’s stock market is already being shaken by fears of a political crisis, with the main stock index falling to its lowest level since November 2020 on Monday and down 8.4% so far this year, making it Asia’s worst-performing market.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 74, a billionaire and strong supporter of the ruling regime, could face pretrial detention if he is not granted bail on Tuesday after being formally charged with insulting the monarchy in a 2015 media interview.
Separately, the Constitutional Court will hear a lawsuit brought by a group of senators seeking to potentially remove Prime Minister Suretta Tabişin from office for violating the law by appointing a convicted lawyer to his cabinet.
The court will also hear a lawsuit seeking the dissolution of the opposition Forward Movement Party, which is campaigning to reform the country’s royal insult law, following a complaint from the electoral commission.
The court is expected to announce the next hearing or sentencing date in the case involving Suretta and Move Forward on Tuesday.
The Constitutional Court is also due to rule on the legality of the ongoing Senate elections, which began earlier this month and are due to finish in early July.
If the court halts or postpones the proceedings, it will temporarily extend the terms of military-appointed senators who played key roles in forming the previous government.
(Reporting by Panu Wongchaum; Editing by Devjot Ghoshal and Sharon Singleton)
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