In the space of just three weeks, the Shinawatra family has suffered a succession of blows that threaten to undo its more than two decades at the top of Thai politics. The first blow came in late August when the constitutional court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra from premiership for ethical misconduct.
The Pheu Thai party, whose de facto leader is Paetongtarn’s father and former Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, lost its bid to lead the next government one week later. Then, on September 9, the supreme court sentenced Thaksin to one year in prison for past convictions of corruption and abuse of power.
All of this comes just two years after Pheu Thai struck a deal with the country’s conservative royalist-military establishment that paved the way for Thaksin to return to Thailand after more than 15 years in exile. The reformist Move Forward party had won the 2023 general election that year, but was blocked from taking office and dissolved by the constitutional court.
