The charter court’s decision to suspend Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha until it hands down a ruling over his controversial eight-year term limit as prime minister could be a bad omen for the army chief-turned-politician who, until this week, has run the country since 2014. Despite Gen Prayut weathering political storms and surviving many censure debates during the past three years, the onerous eight-year-tenure issue will soon be resolved.
That the court unanimously accepted the case, submitted by the opposition bloc, was not entirely surprising. But few would have thought that the immediate suspension through a 5:4 vote might result in a political vacuum. Now it’s his so-called “big brother”, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon who assumes the role of caretaker prime minister, with full power over personnel transfers, especially military and police, and budget matters.
