Thailand braces for court cases amid risk of political crisis

BANGKOK — Thailand's influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been formally indicted for allegedly insulting the monarchy, the attorney-general's office said on June 18.

Thaksin, 74, is expected to seek bail from a criminal court in the case that stems from a 2015 media interview.

Besides Thaksin, three other high-profile cases involving key political players in Thailand are scheduled to go before the courts on June 18, in the latest legal wrangling that could see South-east Asia's second-largest economy plunged into a new period of uncertainty.

The cases involve some of Thailand's most powerful politicians, including its current prime minister, and could deepen a decades-old rift between the conservative-royalist establishment and its opponents, such as the populist ruling Pheu Thai party and the opposition Move Forward party.

"The political parties and representatives that voters have chosen are being systematically and repeatedly stymied," Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, told Reuters.

A single petition can bring down a sitting, elected government or oust a prime minister, he said, outlining the power of the country's courts.

"There's a judicial assertiveness that has been damaging to Thailand, subverting popular will and popular mandates."

Such tensions have previously triggered violent street protests, dissolutions of political parties, airport closures and military coups that have hamstrung the economy.

Thai stock markets have already been rattled by the spectre of a political crisis. The main stock index dropped to its lowest level since November 2020 on June 17, and has fallen 8.4 per cent so far in 2024, making it Asia's worst-performing