Group Of Senators Ask Constitutional Court To Impeach PM

Thai Enquirer runs comments from Senator Direkrit Jenkrongtham, who confirms that a group of 40 upper house members have petitioned the Constitutional Court to issue a ruling on whether Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's appointment of Pichit Chuenban as PM Office Minister was against the charter.

• The Senators argue that Pichit is ineligible to take public office because he was sentenced to a six-month imprisonment for contempt of court and lost his lawyer's licence. Their charge against Srettha boils down to the fact that the PM was aware of Pichit's previous conviction while appointing him to a Cabinet position.
• Srettha had earlier insisted that he had consulted the new Cabinet line-up with the Council of State (the government's legal arm) before submitting it to the King. Furthermore, a Cabinet source told the Bangkok Post that Pichit's ban on holding public office expired after 10 years from the end of his jail sentence, although the Senators claim that he does not meet the required moral and ethical standards.
• The term of the 40 Senators has expired but they continue to serve as caretakers pending the appointment of their successors. The election process is notoriously complicated (see a primer here), with each candidate representing one of the 20 designated professional groups. The polls will be held on June 26, with the results expected on July 2.
• The role of the Senate will change after the upcoming elections and the number of its members will be reduced to 200 as part of its transition from a transitional post-coup institution into a more permanent one. Crucially, the Senate will no longer play a role in the election of the Prime Minister, losing the prerogative that allowed it to block the PM bid of the reformist Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat last year.