The second biggest party in Thailand’s ruling coalition pulled out on Wednesday over a leaked phone call between Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, putting her government on the brink of collapse.
The conservative Bhumjaithai party said “the country, people and army lost dignity” because of Paetongtarn’s conduct in the call about a festering border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
The loss of Bhumjaithai’s 69 active members of parliament leaves the coalition led by Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party with barely enough votes for a majority.
If any other coalition partner pulls out, it could put the kingdom on course for a general election — scarcely two years since the last one in May 2023.
Bhumjaithai said in a statement announcing its withdrawal that the leaked phone call had “damaged the sovereignty and well-being of the country and Thai Army”.
“Bhumjaithai party calls on Paetongtarn to show responsibility for her actions that have made the country people and army lose dignity,” the statement said.
Paetongtarn, 38, came to power in August 2024 at the head of an awkward coalition between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the last 20 years battling against her father, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Growing tensions within the coalition erupted into open warfare in the past week as Pheu Thai tried to take the interior minister job away from Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul.
The loss of Bhumjaithai leaves Pheu Thai’s coalition with just a handful more votes than the 248 needed for a majority.
Turbulent politics
In the leaked phone call Paetongtarn is heard discussing the border crisis with Hun Sen — who stepped down as prime minister in 2023 after four decades but still wields considerable influence.
She addresses the veteran leader as “uncle” and complains about the bad publicity she is suffering as a result of the standoff, which flared last month when troops exchanged fire, killing one Cambodian soldier.
Paetongtarn has also suffered criticism for her lack of experience and leadership, as well as the sluggish performance of the Thai economy.
If her position becomes untenable, she could call a snap election, which would be held within 60 days.
Alternatively, she could resign and allow other party leaders to try to organise a coalition.
The 2023 election, which swept away nearly a decade of military-aligned rule in Thailand, resulted in no single party dominating the lower house.
The progressive Move Forward Party won most seats but was unable to muster enough votes to get its leader approved as prime minister.
This opened the door for Pheu Thai to stitch together an uneasy pact with a handful of pro-military parties long staunchly opposed to the Shinawatra family.
Paetongtarn’s father and aunt Yingluck were both thrown out as prime minister by the army during a two-decade power struggle between Thaksin and the kingdom’s conservative pro-royal establishment.
Former Manchester City owner Thaksin, 75, still enjoys huge support from the rural base whose lives he transformed with populist policies in the early 2000s.
But he is despised by Thailand’s powerful elites, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.
The current Pheu Thai-led government has already lost one prime minister, former businessman Srettha Thavisin, who was kicked out by a court order last year, bringing Paetongtarn to office.