Thailand begins impeachment hearing of ousted PM Yingluck

Thailand’s military-appointed legislature began impeachment hearings Friday against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a move analysts say is aimed at ensuring the ousted leader stays out of politics for the foreseeable future. The lawmakers, hand-picked by the junta who staged a May 22 coup, are expected to vote by the end of the month. Yingluck was forced from office in May by a court’s verdict, one day before Thailand’s anti-graft commission indicted her on charges of dereliction of duty in overseeing a widely criticized rice subsidy program. The anti-corruption body said Yingluck had failed to halt the program, which accumulated losses of over $4 billion and temporarily cost Thailand its position as the world’s leading rice exporter.

The impeachment is geared to keep Yingluck at bay. If she’s allowed to run in the next election, there’s a good chance that she might win.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok

If impeached, Yingluck faces a five-year ban from office. The ruling junta has overseen a period of political stability but has struggled to revive the economy, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest, which grew just 0.2 per cent in the first nine months of 2014 due to weak exports and subdued domestic demand. Critics say the case is part of the junta’s ambition to end the influence of Yingluck’s powerful family and any move to impeach her could raise the spectre of a backlash by her supporters. Martial law is still in place nationwide and protests are banned, but that has not stopped some farmers and activists from staging small rallies against the junta. Years of crisis have centred largely around Yingluck’s billionaire brother Thaksin, whose populist policies won him huge support but upset the military-backed establishment.

Asia-Pacific