Thai Prime Minister Disqualified from Office
In yet another extraordinary event for Thai politics, Prime Minister Samak has been disqualified from office this afternoon following a judicial review. It’s nothing to do with the recent protests, the economy or the Thaksin Shinawatra saga. Instead, it’s been a TV cookery show which has been the downfall of Samak Sundaravej. The Thai leader has been disqualified from office by a conflict of interests because of his involvement in two TV shows. Thailand’s charter prohibits the prime minister from taking any other form of paid employment and today the Constitution Court unanimously found Samak guilty of a violation of the charter.
Before becoming prime minister, Samak was as well-known in Thailand for his cooking as he was his politics. For a number of years, Samak has been a regular at Bangkok’s early morning markets where he sourced fresh ingredients and chatted with the food vendors. His love of Thai cooking and his forthright opinions made him a good choice to host television cookery shows which he has done on and off since 2000. Before the election in December 2007, Samak was apparently advised by lawyers that if he became prime minister he could continue to act a guest on shows providing he wasn’t a company employee and on the payroll of the TV company. When Samak was appointed prime minister in February 2008, he stopped appearing on the TV shows because he felt it was no longer appropriate. He denies receiving any payment after he became PM and before then he said he only received reimbursements for the cost of transport and ingredients. However, the Commission Court have declared that he did receive payments in breach of the charter. Six of the nine judges considered him to be an employee of the TV company whilst the other three judges considered him a business partner. Therefore, all nine judges unanimously found Samak guilty of breaking the charter and disqualified him from being prime minister.
There have been celebrations from the anti-government protesters in the grounds of Government House, but it still might not be the end of matters depending on how things now pan out. The six coalition parties had already pre-scheduled a meeting for tomorrow to discuss the political situation. Now they will be looking to decide on a new prime minister and a new cabinet. However, Samak will still retain political rights and be allowed to hold political positions and there have been suggestions from supporters within Samak’s PPP party that he could be re-voted in again as prime minister. Nothing is ever straight forward in Thai politics.
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