Return of Thai Shadow Play

The Thai constitutional court, in a 6:3 ruling, dismissed the government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, which had been in power for less than a year.

- SHANKARI SUNDARARAMAN

N August 29, the Thai constitutional court, in a 6:3 ruling, dismissed the government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, which had been in power for less than a year.

The roots of the current crisis lie in the 2023 elections, following which Thailand's political fortunes have unfolded as a complex drama.

Pita Limjaroenrat's Move Forward Party (MFP) delivered a major upset by emerging as the largest formation in an election where no one secured a clear majority.

The MFP had earlier been in opposition from 2014 to 2023, when the government was headed by Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former military general who came to power following the 2014 coup d'état.

Though the MFP won in 2023, it failed to find support in the senate and the house of representatives that selects the prime minister.

With the MFP not getting the legitimacy to form the government, the Pheu Thai party founded by former PM Thaksin Shinawatra was in the reckoning.

The adage that politics makes strange bedfellows was in play when the Pheu Thai allied with the conservative parties that are close to the country's powerful monarchy-military combination.

This unusual alliance between erstwhile political rivals was not likely to offer long-term stability, but the short-term goal of keeping the MFP out of the ring and allowing for Srettha Thavisin to be anointed PM.

As part of the alliance with military-backed groups, the return of Thaksin was a clear driver of Srettha's government.

Thaksin's eight-year prison sentence was set aside, and when Srettha himself lost the confidence of the conservatives, the rise of the Thaksin family with Paetongtarn as PM took the centre stage.