Thai critics say courts have too much power to disband governments

BANGKOK (AP) — Wednesday’s decision by Thailand’s Constitutional Court to oust Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin after just under a year in office was jarring, but not entirely a surprise given what critics say is the expanding overreach of unelected bodies.

Thais have long been accustomed to sudden changes of government due to military coups, numbering more than a dozen since the 1930s. But in the past two decades, they have increasingly seen such changes imposed by the courts, which have ousted four prime ministers and dissolved three election-winning political parties, often on narrow technical grounds.

In most cases the targets were viewed as challengers to the traditional royalist establishment, whose most powerful defenders are the army and the courts.

Other nominally independent state bodies such as the Election Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission also have controversially exercised constitutional powers to purge officeholders.

Wednesday’s court ruling ousted Srettha Thavisin for breaching a law on ethical behavior by appointing a Cabinet member who had gone to prison in a 2008 case involving an alleged attempt to bribe a judge.

“The Constitutional Court’s decision to dismiss Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and his entire Cabinet exemplifies the overreach of undemocratic institutions within Thai politics and public life,” said Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, a human rights associate at the Fortify Rights group.

“This ruling is not an isolated incident but instead reflects a troubling pattern of unelected officials wielding disproportionate power over elected political leaders,” she said.

The ruling was the court’s second major exercise of political power in about a week.

On Aug. 7, it dissolved the