Embattled Thai PM reshuffles cabinet as crisis rages

With a political and legal crisis triggered by a leaked phone call threatening to topple her government, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra started a cabinet reshuffle Monday.

When her primary coalition partner resigned last week, the 38-year-old daughter of controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra started distributing ministerial positions, a move that almost brought down her government.

In addition to party horse-trading, Paetongtarn, who has been in office for less than a year, is in danger of being removed from office due to a case before the Constitutional Court.

She faced calls to quit or call an election last week as critics accused her of undermining the country and insulting the army during the leaked call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, which focused on a festering border dispute.

The conservative Bhumjaithai party quit the governing coalition led by Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party over the call, leaving it with a wafer-thin majority.

But the crisis stabilised as other coalition partners said they would stay, and Pheu Thai secretary general Sorawong Thienthong told AFP on Monday that all 10 remaining parties were sticking with the government.

“None of the other parties are pulling out — the remaining parties are staying united with the government,” Sorawong said.

“The prime minister has discussed the reshuffle with other political leaders.”

The new cabinet line-up will be finalised by Friday but sources said changes are expected in key positions including the defence ministry as the border row with Cambodia rumbles on.

A long-running dispute over several small stretches of the frontier in northeast Thailand flared into military clashes last month that left one Cambodian soldier dead.

The standoff has shown little sign of going away and on Sunday Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered a halt to fuel and gas imports from Thailand.

He said Monday that the “key” to normalising relations again lay with Thailand, blaming “Thai nationalism and internal politics” for the dispute.