Thailand faces a critical week of legal proceedings that could lead to a political crisis in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, with the fate of the prime minister and main opposition hanging in the balance.
Four lawsuits filed on Tuesday involve the country’s most powerful politicians: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the popular opposition party Move Forward and lawmakers from the House of Lords.
For decades, Thai politics has been shaped by a struggle between the conservative-royalist establishment, backed by the military, and populist parties such as those backed by Thaksin and the current opposition party Move Forward.