BANGKOK: Thailand’s acting prime minister is set to helm the country for only one full day Wednesday, standing in for suspended premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra before being replaced himself in a cabinet reshuffle.
Transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit began his engagements by attending a ceremony in Bangkok celebrating the longevity of the prime minister’s office.
The event marked the 93rd anniversary of an institution Suriya is set to command for far fewer than 93 hours as Thailand reels from the suspension of Paetongtarn, heiress of the country’s dominant political dynasty.
During a brief ceremony open to media Suriya declined to respond to queries asking how he felt about his ephemeral leadership, which caps a decades-long political career.
He said his most urgent business had been to “sign a paper” ensuring a smooth transition to his successor on Thursday.
The Constitutional Court said Tuesday there was “sufficient cause to suspect” Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics in a diplomatic spat with Cambodia, suspending her pending a probe that may last months.
‘I don’t know the guy’
The 38-year-old Paetongtarn is the daughter of political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family and party have been jousting with Thailand’s conservative establishment since the early 2000s.
Power immediately passed to 70-year-old Suriya, a veteran operator with a reputation in Thai media as a political weathervane for always aligning himself with the government of the day.
“I don’t really know the guy, but I don’t care anymore who becomes prime minister,“ 54-year-old motorbike taxi driver Paitoon Kaewdee told AFP.
“I’ve lost hope in Thai politics. I used to care a lot about politics and the Shinawatra family but now, it’s all the same.”
Suriya’s time as acting premier is due to end with a cabinet reshuffle already scheduled before Tuesday’s court bombshell.
It takes effect in an oath-swearing ceremony scheduled on Thursday, when he is set to be superseded by incoming interior minister Phumtham Wechayachai.
The ruling Pheu Thai party said late Tuesday that Phumtham will take over after the cabinet reshuffle because he will receive a deputy prime minister title that is higher in the order of succession than Suriya.
The “power vacuum at the top” may threaten Thailand’s bid for a US trade deal to avert President Donald Trump’s threat of a 36 percent tariff, said Capital Economics senior Asia economist Gareth Leather.
“I want a new election,“ complained 40-year-old Bangkok office worker Chatchai Summabut. “This country needs stability.”
Waning influence
Paetongtarn — who became prime minister only last August — assigned herself the culture minister position in the new cabinet before she was suspended, meaning she is set to keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.
She, Suriya and Phumtham are all members of Pheu Thai, which came second in the 2023 election but secured power by forming an unsteady coalition with its former enemies in pro-military parties.
But analysts say Paetongtarn’s pause from office represents a dramatic waning of the Shinawatras’ influence, even though the acting prime ministers are still considered their loyal lieutenants.
Tuesday also saw the second day of Thaksin’s criminal trial for royal defamation, in which he faces a possible 15-year sentence if convicted.
Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a longstanding territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier.
When she made a diplomatic call to Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen she called him “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent”, according to a leaked recording causing widespread backlash.
A conservative party abandoned her ruling coalition — sparking the cabinet reshuffle — while her approval rating plunged and thousands mustered to protest over the weekend.
Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military, entering a case with the Constitutional Court alleging she breached the constitution’s ministerial ethics code.
