Seoul Gazette - Embattled Thai PM reshuffles cabinet as crisis rages

The 38-year-old daughter of controversial former premier Thaksin Shinawatra began handing out ministerial posts vacated when her main coalition partner quit last week -- a move that nearly took her government down.

Paetongtarn, in office for less than a year, is hanging on by a thread, and on top of the party horse-trading she now faces a Constitutional Court case that could see her barred from office.

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.

The 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 Monday the Thai army closed border crossings in six provinces to all vehicles and foot passengers except students and people seeking medical treatment.

The latest border restrictions apply to foreigners as well as Thais, and mean that tourists cannot enter Cambodia via the popular Aranyaprathet-Poipet crossing point.

The move came a day after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet ordered a halt to fuel and gas imports from Thailand.

He visited troops on the border on Monday and an evacuation centre housing some 3,850 people moved from their homes near the border as a precaution.

Hun Manet said Monday that the "key" to normalising relations again lay with Thailand, blaming "Thai nationalism and internal politics" for the dispute.

- Court case looms -

With the loss of Bhumjaithai, the government can command only a handful more than the 248 votes needed for a majority in parliament, making it deeply vulnerable.

A group of political activists involved in huge demonstrations that helped sink previous leaders linked to the Shinawatras has pledged to hold a major rally on Saturday calling for Paetongtarn to quit.

Even if Paetongtarn rides out the parliamentary crisis, a potentially bigger threat is looming in the Constitutional Court.

A group of conservative senators has submitted a petition asking the court to throw Paetongtarn out of office over her conduct in the call with Hun Sen.

The same court sacked Paetongtarn's predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, in an ethics case in August last year.

Srettha was the latest in a long line of Thai prime ministers from parties linked to Thaksin to be kicked out of office by court orders or military coups -- including Thaksin himself and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Thai politics has endured two decades of chronic instability fuelled by a long-running battle between the military, pro-royalist establishment and parties linked to Thaksin.

While Thaksin, 75, remains popular with his rural base, he is deeply disliked and distrusted by Thailand's powerful elite.

In another headache for the Shinawatras, Thaksin faces a criminal trial next week for insulting the monarchy in an interview with South Korean media a decade ago.

Under Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws, insulting King Maha Vajiralongkorn or his close family is punishable by up to 15 years in jail for each offence.

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Q.Oh--SG