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Thailand’s Bhumjaithai Party Seeks Vote of No-confidence in PM After Cambodia Leak

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Thailand’s Bhumjaithai Party Seeks Vote of No-confidence in PM After Cambodia Leak

The party withdrew from Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s coalition last week over the Thai leader’s handling of an intensifying border dispute.

Thailand’s Bhumjaithai Party Seeks Vote of No-confidence in PM After Cambodia Leak

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra speaks with soldiers during her visit to a disputed part of the border with Cambodia, June 20, 2025.

Credit: Facebook/Ing Shinawatra

Thailand’s Bhumjaithai party has announced that it will seek a parliamentary no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her cabinet, following the party’s withdrawal from the coalition last week.

Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in Paetongtarn’s 10-party coalition government, withdrew its support from the government over the government’s handling of the ongoing border dispute with Cambodia.

“We have a party resolution to file a no-confidence motion against the prime minister,” Bhumjaithai spokesperson Boontida Somchai said yesterday, according to Reuters, adding that the party would launch the motion “first thing” after parliament reconvenes on July 3.

Bhumjaithai’s withdrawal came after the leak on June 18 of a recorded phone call between Prime Minister Paetongtarn and Hun Sen.

In the recording, Paetongtarn can be heard pressing Hun Sen for a peaceful resolution to the current border dispute, which has intensified since an armed clash in a remote stretch of the border on May 28. She vowed to “take care of whatever” the veteran Cambodian leader needed, and accused a prominent Thai military commander of inciting anti-government sentiment on the border issue and of being “completely aligned with the other side” (i.e., her domestic political opponents).

Bhumjaithai took the opportunity to announce its withdrawal from Paetongtarn’s coalition, accusing the Thai leader of “compromising Thailand’s honor, national dignity, the people, and the military.” However, the party and its leader, Anutin Charnvirakul, had been at odds with Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party for some time, and it is likely that the border issue provided a convenient pretext for its defection.

Under Thailand’s Constitution, a bloc of at least one-fifth of the members of the House of Representatives can bring a vote of no-confidence against any individual minister, or against the cabinet as a whole. This is then followed by a general debate and a vote in which the motion requires a majority vote to pass.

This means that in addition to its own 69 seats in the House of Representatives, Bhumjaithai would need the support of an additional 30 lawmakers. This will presumably be no challenge, given that the progressive People’s Party, the largest party in the House, has called for Paetongtarn’s resignation over the leaked call with Hun Sen. The People’s Party also filed a similar petition of no-confidence against Paetongtarn in March, accusing her of failing to fulfill the duties of her office and acting as a proxy for her father, ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Thai leader survived after several days of questioning from lawmakers, but given her coalition’s narrowed majority – it now holds just 254 of the 495 currently occupied seats in the House – Bhumjaithai would not need to win over many pro-government lawmakers to bring down the government.

Paetongtarn has managed to shore up her position since Bhumjaithai’s withdrawal, and claimed this week that her coalition was strong. She said that the government would this week announce a cabinet reshuffle to fill the eight ministerial posts vacated by Bhumjaithai. “It’s settled, I’ve spoken to all party leaders,” she said, as per Reuters. “Coalition parties have been fully supportive.”

However, party politics is only one part, and not even the most important part, of the equation. Anti-Thaksin royalist agitators have already announced more protests, including a large demonstration on June 28, to call for Paetongtarn’s resignation and the withdrawal of other parties from her coalition.

Complaints against the Thai leader are also set to hit the judiciary, which has unseated many a Pheu Thai leader over the past two decades, most recently Paetongtarn’s predecessor Srettha Thavisin, who was removed from office over a minor ethics breach last August. The National Anti-Corruption Commission said on Monday that it would launch a preliminary investigation into Paetongtarn’s conduct in her call with Hun Sen, after a request from Senate Speaker Mongkol Surasajja. Similar complaints have also been submitted to the Electoral Commission and Constitutional Court. Any of these could lead to Paetongtarn’s removal from office.

Even if she survives the upcoming vote of no-confidence, the troubles of Thailand’s prime minister are far from over.