BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's politically powerful Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on July 1 after accepting a case of alleged "ethical misconduct" against her because she criticized a Royal Thai Army commander in her leaked phone call with Cambodia's de facto leader Hun Sen during their deadly border feud.

Ms. Paetongtarn's suspension came after the two countries briefly clashed on May 28 and Thai troops shot dead a Cambodian soldier in the Emerald Triangle where eastern Thailand, northern Cambodia, and southern Laos meet.

Ms. Paetongtarn apologized to the public and insisted she had "no ill intentions" when she clumsily tried to "negotiate" with Cambodia's battle-hardened Senate President Hun Sen .

The Constitutional Court gave her 15 days to defend herself.

Meanwhile, to run this increasingly troubled Southeast Asian nation, she appointed her Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit to become caretaker prime minister while the court decide during the next several weeks.

The court voted 7-2 to immediately suspend her after the nine judges voted unanimously to consider a petition by 36 appointed, pro-military senators.

The senators, referring to the audio clip from the phone call, claimed Ms. Paetongtarn's behavior was "lacking integrity" and "ethical misconduct" when she spoke to Mr. Hun Sen while the border feud remains unresolved.

When the June 15 call was leaked, Thais were shocked to hear her criticize Thailand's Second Army Region Commander Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang while speaking to Mr. Hun Sen.

Her "derogatory remarks" and "submissive tone towards Hun Sen, with her signaling a readiness to comply with the Cambodian strongman's demands," were the reason for her political collapse, the conservative Bangkok Post reported.

Lt. Gen. Boonsin is assigned to protect northeastern Thailand's border with Cambodia, including the trenches were a Cambodian soldier was shot dead in the disputed Emerald Triangle.

Ms. Paetongtarn later confirmed an audio clip of her leaked call to Mr. Hun Sen was accurate when she said she did not want him "to listen to the opposing side, especially since the [Thai] Second Army Region commander is entirely from the opposition.

“He [the Thai commander] just wants to appear cool or impressive. He may say [hawkish] things that are not beneficial to the country,” Ms. Paetongtarn said to Mr. Hun Sen during her call.

After hearing the leaked audio, Lt. Gen. Boonsin expressed cryptic advice to Ms. Paetongtarn.

"I would like the prime minister to show determination and be mindful in solving the problems," Lt. Gen. Boonsin said told The Standard.

"The prime minister made an immediate phone call to me to apologize after that," Lt. Gen. Boonsin said.

After the leak exploded into a political crisis, Ms. Paetongtarn said she gave Lt. Gen. Boonsin control over opening or closing all Thai-Cambodia border crossings.

"Border checkpoints will not be fully opened. Let's have an RBC (Regional Border Committee) meeting first," Lt. Gen. Boonsin said, referring to an official group of Thai and Cambodian regional army commanders who try to mediate frontier issues.

He said the border should remain partially shut to allow both sides to cool down after the bloody Emerald Triangle confrontation on May 28.

"This is the reason why we will not yet open checkpoints 100 percent," Lt. Gen. Boonsin told The Standard.

Hours before her suspension from the prime ministry, Ms. Paetongtarn arranged to become culture minister so she could stay in her troubled coalition awaiting the court's final decision which may take several weeks.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission, and the Central Investigation Bureau are also scrutinizing allegations the she may have violated the constitution and threatened Thailand's security by her leaked remarks to Mr. Hun Sen.

The Constitutional Court previously terminated three prime ministers and banned two others from political power.

Ms. Paetongtarn, 38, is widely perceived as a pliant proxy of her influential father, twice-elected Thaksin Shinawatra who will be 76 years old in July.

Thai media describe Mr. Thaksin as the "de facto boss of the Pheu Thai Party" which is officially led by his daughter atop an uneasy ruling coalition which includes pro-military parties.

Mr. Thaksin arrived at Bangkok's Criminal Court on July 1 to hear allegations that he expressed criticism of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2015, one year before the revered monarch died.

Les majeste -- insulting the king or the royal family -- is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Mr. Thaksin denied the charges.

The Criminal Court's verdict concerning Mr. Thaksin is expected to be announced in several weeks.

In a spectacular and dangerous political breakup between Asia's two most powerful de facto leaders, Mr. Hun Sen publicly ended his "betrayed" friendship with Mr. Thaksin on June 27 and, in revenge over their border dispute, said Mr. Thaksin allegedly duped Bangkok's judicial authorities by wearing a neck brace and arm sling as fake props to avoid a prison sentence in 2023.

Mr. Hun Sen livestreamed his bombshell allegations which shocked Thais and sharply increased Ms. Paetongtarn's political vulnerability.

"Now that I’ve been betrayed, I feel I must reveal what the Thaksin family did to betray their nation," Mr. Hun Sen said on June 27 at a local government meeting.

Directing his anger and allegations at Mr. Thaksin, Mr. Hun Sen warned: “If you act arrogantly, I will expose everything you told me.

"Discipline your children. You have a child as prime minister, and I have a child as prime minister. But don’t mistake me for someone you can cross.

“I regret that a 30-year friendship was destroyed by a friend's daughter," Mr. Hun Sen said, referring to Ms. Paetongtarn.

Mr. Hun Sen's official Facebook page, which has 14 million followers, is also filled with anger, accusations, and dismay about Mr. Thaksin and his daughter.

Their surprise breakup began when Thailand and Cambodia became embroiled in the deadly clash along their disputed frontier.

Throughout June, Bangkok and Phnom Penh blamed each other for starting the border skirmish, hyping nationalism among the public, and worsening the problem by closing the border and boycotting exports and imports, despite a supposedly deep personal friendship between the two nations' dynastic ruling families.

"All I want is an equal relationship built on mutual respect, with no encroachment and no intervention," Mr. Hun Sen said, referring to their border feud. 

Mr. Hun Sen, 72, was one of Pol Pot's anti-U.S. Khmer Rouge regiment commanders during the 1970s and, after defecting to Vietnam, became Cambodia's authoritarian prime minister for 38 years.

In 2023, he orchestrated his son Mr. Hun Manet, 47 and a West Point graduate, to become the country's current prime minister.

"I flew to Bangkok to visit Thaksin. He was not ill at all," Mr. Hun Sen said describing events last year.

"When it came time to take [media] photos, he asked for props -- a neck brace, an arm brace -- to appear unwell. As soon as the photos were done, he removed them and went to dine," he said, according to the conservative Bangkok Post's translation of Mr. Hun Sen's Khmer language livestream.

"That's not illness, that's theater. Thai people already have suspicions. I am only confirming what many have thought, because both Thaksin and his daughter, Paetongtarn, are acting in bad faith," Mr. Hun Sen said in his meeting with local Cambodian government officials.

Thai politicians, investigators, and the media suspected Mr. Thaksin, who voluntarily returned to Thailand in 2023, avoided being confined to a jail cell by allegedly faking severe illness, enabling him to spend months in a hospital before being released.

He had been sentenced to several years in prison, later pardoned down to only one year, for financial corruption committed during his 2001-2006 administration.

A government photograph of Mr. Hun Sen meeting Mr. Thaksin and Ms. Paetongtarn on Feb. 21, 2024 in Bangkok shows the two men sitting on a sofa next to each other with Mr. Thaksin's neck swathed in a thick wraparound circular medical neck collar and a reinforced black sling on his right arm, with refreshments on the table in front of them.

Mr. Thaksin had also appeared in Thailand at events while wearing what appeared to be the same neck brace and arm sling, including when he was sitting next to a swimming pool.

Thais filled social media with criticism and mocking memes about those appearances, because they were convinced he was faking illnesses for leniency in several pending court cases.

Mr. Hun Sen claimed Ms. Paetongtarn allegedly confided her plans to him when she maneuvered against one of her coalition government's political rivals.

"Even when you planned to remove Anutin Charnvirakul [on June 19] from his posts as deputy prime minister and interior minister, you told me," Mr. Hun Sen said in his livestream.

"If you can betray your own citizens, why would you not dare betray me? Of course you would."

Mr. Thaksin was removed from the prime ministry in 2006 by the military in a putsch and was an international fugitive for 15 years avoiding prison sentences for financial corruption.

While Mr. Thaksin avoided being caught in Thailand, Mr. Hun Sen named him as an "economic adviser" to Cambodia's government and appeared to be personally supportive when Mr. Thaksin visited Cambodia.

Based mostly in Dubai, the fugitive arranged for his sister Yingluck Shinawatra to be elected prime minister in 2011 as another pliant political proxy, but her government was ousted in a 2014 military coup. 

Ms. Yingluck is currently in self-exile, sometimes in England, dodging prison sentences for financial mismanagement involving her government's rice subsidies.

While Mr. Thaksin avoided being caught in Thailand, Mr. Hun Sen named him as an "economic adviser" to Cambodia's government and openly appeared to be personally supportive.

"Depending on how the Paetongtarn Shinawatra government and people handle the situation in the coming days and weeks, Thailand could see its relationship with its neighbor, Cambodia, regressing by decades, or could face a military coup -- or both," wrote Pravit Rojanaphruk, a Khaosod English news columnist on June 22.

"Paetongtarn’s public expression of contrition was clearly not accepted by [Thai] ultranationalist conservatives and they now want her out, or a military coup to oust her, and a tougher stance against Cambodia on the border disputes and economic front.

"It’s understandable why many went ballistic upon hearing the 17-minute clip, because the Thai prime minister spoke more like a little girl," Mr. Pravit wrote.

If the prime minister does not survive her political crisis, a new prime minister may step forward from her Pheu Thai Party or be a coalition member.

That candidate could be confirmed by parliament's 495-member House of Representatives while her administration limps along under Caretaker Prime Minister Suriya.

An alternative option would be for Mr. Suriya to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections for parliament.

That however risks the turbulence of nationwide campaigning and unpredictability over who might be victorious in general elections, followed by months of political deal-making before parliament confirms a winner.

"The credibility of Prime Minister Paetongtarn is in tatters, due to this leak,” opposition People's Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut told parliament, demanding Ms. Paetongtarn dissolve parliament and quit, to allow fresh nationwide polls.

That option could make some in the military nervous because the opposition, youth-backed People's Party won more than 30 percent of the previous nationwide elections in 2023, and has called for tough reforms of the military's budget, spending, commercial ventures and unpopular conscription.

The worst case scenario is if the military stages yet another coup, establishes a junta, and rules until a civilian can be found willing to collaborate and be the public face of a new regime.

The three most popular replacements to become Thailand's next prime minister, by a majority vote in parliament's House, include:

* Ms. Paetongtarn's ruling populous Pheu Thai (For Thais) Party's Chaikasem Nitisiri, though some are concerned about his health.  Mr. Chaikasem could assure supporters of continuity, but may not be enough of a change to quell possible questions among the military about Ms. Paetongtarn's party support for the army.

* Anutin Charnvirakul, the feisty, confident leader of the Bhumjaithai (Proud to be Thai) Party who pulled his party's 69 parliamentarians out of Ms. Paetongtarn's coalition government on June 18 and expressed strong support for the military in its confrontation with Cambodia.

* Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, leader of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart (United Thai Nation) Party's 36 parliamentarians, and the current energy minister and a deputy prime minister.  Mr. Pirapan's party, founded in 2021, is conservative, royalist, and pro-military and supported former coup leader and prime minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha several years ago.

More than 10,000 pro-military, anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirts and others gathered on June 28 in the grimy streets at Bangkok's Victory Monument demanding Ms. Paetongtarn immediately quit the government.

Protesters did not explicitly call for a coup, but some indicated they would support a putsch if Ms. Paetongtarn refused to resign.

“If the military wants to do something during a national crisis, go ahead, but let the selection of the prime minister involve public participation,” said prominent protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul.

In 2008, Mr. Sondhi led pro-military, royalist Yellow Shirt supporters to shut down Bangkok's two international airports, stranding tens of thousands of travelers for more than a week, in a protest to topple Mr. Thaksin's brother-in-law Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

The anti-Thaksin leader of the Thai Pakdee Party, Warong Dechgitvigrom, told protesters: “We are facing a prime minister with the DNA of a traitor, while our soldiers protect national sovereignty."

***

Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at
https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com