According to government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat, the move was a response to the actions of the opposition People’s Party. “This happened because we are not making progress in parliament,” he told Reuters. The party threatened a motion of no confidence after its demands, including a referendum on constitutional changes, were not met. However, the chairman of the People’s Party, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, said that Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party had not adhered to agreements on constitutional reform.
Already at least 20 dead in the border region
The political crisis coincides with a serious border conflict with Cambodia in which at least 20 people were killed and in which US President Donald Trump has now intervened again. He will have to make a phone call to revive a possible agreement to end the conflict, Trump said on Thursday (local time). Trump had already brokered a ceasefire in the conflict in July. Anutin said on Thursday that he would explain the situation to Trump if he called. However, Thailand insists that the matter will be resolved by the two countries themselves.
Anutin is Thailand’s third prime minister since August 2023. Political instability is weighing on Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which is also struggling with US tariffs and high debt.
Dispute over unmarked areas for over 100 years
The current fighting with Cambodia is the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July this year. The worst clashes in recent memory left at least 48 people dead and 300,000 displaced before Trump brokered a ceasefire.
Tensions had increased since Thailand suspended de-escalation measures last month. These were agreed at a summit brokered by Trump and included, among other things, the withdrawal of troops. The reason for the suspension was the mutilation of a Thai soldier by a landmine that Bangkok said was planted by Cambodia. The government in Phnom Penh rejects the accusation.
The two countries have disputed sovereignty over unmarked stretches along their border for more than a century. This was mapped by France in 1907 when it ruled Cambodia as a colony. (Report by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Kitiphong Thaicharoen, Bhargav Archaya and Panu Wongcha-um, written by Hans Busemann, Alexandra Falk and Philipp Krach. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com
