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Yingluck Shinawatra banned from Thai politics and faces charges
Yingluck Shinawatra banned from Thai politics and faces charges
(about 3 hours later)
Thai authorities dealt a double blow to ousted prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her powerful family on Friday, banning her from politics for five years and proceeding with criminal charges for negligence that could put her in jail.
Thailand’s military government has banned former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra from politics and proceeded with criminal charges that could lead to her serving 10 years in jail – a major double blow to the powerful Shinawatra clan that experts have warned may plunge the nation into violent upheaval.
The moves could stoke tension in the politically divided country still living under martial law after the military seized power in May, toppling the remnants of Yingluck’s government after months of street protests.
The decision – made on Friday by a handpicked legislature – makes Yingluck the first premier in Thailand’s history to be impeached and relates to a hugely popular but deeply troubled government scheme to pay rice farmers double the market price for their crop, a policy believed to have incurred losses of around £10bn.
The ban and the legal case are the latest chapter in 10 years of turbulent politics that have pitted Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, himself a former prime minister, against the royalist-military establishment which sees the Shinawatras as a threat and reviles their populist policies.
The ban prevents Yingluck from participating in politics for five years, a move analysts say is nothing more than an attempt to keep her – and her brother Thaksin, the former prime minister who was himself ousted in a military coup in 2006 – away from polls that have won them, or their affiliates, every election in the past decade.
Yingluck will face criminal charges in the supreme court and if found guilty faces up to 10 years in jail, the attorney general’s office said on Friday.
Yingluck also potentially faces 10 years’ imprisonment if found guilty of negligence by the supreme court over the botched rice subsidy scheme, the attorney general’s Office said on Friday.
The charge against the country’s first female premier, who was accused of abuse of power and removed from office in May days before the coup, concern her role in a scheme that paid farmers above market prices for rice and cost Thailand billions of dollars.
Bangkok’s streets were quiet after the decision and security was tight around parliament, where the assembly ruled 190-18 in favour of impeachment. The nation is still under martial law after a putsch on 22 May ended six months of violent political protests.
The capital’s streets were quiet on Friday, as residents adhered to the military junta’s ban on public gatherings.
The prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, who came to power in the May coup, had warned the public not to get involved in street protests against the legislature’s decision and insinuated Yingluck did not merit the public attention.
Security was tightened around the parliament building where the military-stacked legislature voted Yingluck guilty in a separate impeachment case for failing to exercise sufficient oversight of the rice subsidy scheme.
“If someone does something wrong, will you feel pity for that person?” Prayuth asked reporters. “Even if you [do] feel pity, you can’t [protest] anyway, because it’s against the law.”
The retroactive impeachment at the national legislative assembly (NLA) carries with it a five-year ban from politics.
The double blow was no real surprise to Yingluck or her supporters, who claim the military has been continually chipping away at the Shinawatra power base for years in a desperate bid to consolidate its own hold over Thai politics.
A decision to ban Yingluck from politics required three-fifths of the vote from NLA members, who were handpicked by the junta of coup leader and prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Around 100 of the 220 members are former or serving military officers.
Shinawatra-backed parties are hugely popular among the Thai public and have won every single election since 2001. Unable to be beaten at the polls, the parties have instead suffered a series of judicial defeats: about 150 Shinawatra-linked politicians have been banned from politics in the past 10 years, among them four prime ministers.
Prayuth said he had not ordered the NLA to vote against Yingluck, who remains popular among the rural poor who handed her a landslide electoral victory in 2011 and benefited from the rice scheme.
Yingluck did not appear before the assembly on Friday but in a hearing on Thursday disputed the charges against her and claimed, as other members of her ousted cabinet have done, that the scheme had helped boost the economy and gave farmers the chance of a better life.
The vote against Yingluck was expected by her supporters. Around 150 members of their political movement have ben banned from politics in the last decade, including four who had served as prime ministers.
The junta has promised a return to full democracy with elections expected some time after February 2016. Until then, martial law is still in effect and all parties have been banned from engaging in any kind of political activity.
Shinawatra supporters say the courts and NLA are biased and aligned with an establishment intent on blocking her powerful family from politics.
Yingluck disputed the charges in an appearance at the NLA on Thursday and said the scheme boosted the economy. She did not appear at the NLA on Friday. Prayuth’s government has urged Yingluck’s supporters to stay out of Bangkok this week over concerns of trouble, although a repeat of the protests that have dogged the country in recent years is unlikely.
Authorities have been quick to stifle any public protest, and political gatherings are banned under martial law.
In a radio broadcast earlier on Friday, army chief general Udomdej Sitabutr called on the population to respect the NLA vote.
Yingluck’s fortunes have been similar to those of her billionaire brother.
Both led populist governments toppled in coups, despite being elected in landslides, and both were subjected to legal action and street protests by pro-establishment activists.
After being ousted in a 2006 coup, Thaksin fled Thailand to avoid a 2008 jail term for corruption. He has lived abroad since, but retains a strong influence over Thai politics.
Since last year’s coup, Yingluck has had to inform the military junta of travel plans.
A political ban on Yingluck would have little immediate impact on party politics, as the ruling junta has forbidden all parties from engaging in political activity since the coup.
