Latest news with #politicalinstability
The Guardian
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Thai PM apologises over leaked call with Hun Sen as crisis threatens to topple government
Thailand's prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, apologised on Thursday for a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that provoked widespread anger and threatened to break up her ruling coalition. As pressure grew on Thursday, Paetongtarn apologised at a news conference alongside military chiefs and senior figures from her Pheu Thai party. 'I would like to apologise for the leaked audio of my conversation with a Cambodian leader which has caused public resentment,' Paetongtarn told reporters. In the leaked call, Paetongtarn was heard discussing an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who still holds significant power in Cambodia despite leaving office in 2023. His son, Hun Manet, is the current leader. During their discussion Paetongtarn addresses the veteran leader as 'uncle' and refers to the Thai army commander in the country's northeast as her opponent, a remark that sparked fierce criticism on social media. The Thai foreign ministry summoned the Cambodian ambassador on Thursday to deliver a letter complaining about the leaking of the call. After the leak, the prime minister's main coalition partner quit and she faced calls to resign or hold an election, throwing the kingdom into a fresh round of political instability as it seeks to boost its spluttering economy and avoid US President Donald Trump's swingeing trade tariffs. The conservative Bhumjaithai party pulled out on Wednesday, saying Paetongtarn's conduct in the leaked call had wounded the country and the army's dignity. The Thai stock market fell 2.4% on Thursday as the crisis raged, but by the evening Paetongtarn, daughter of billionaire ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, appeared to have won a reprieve as another coalition party said it would not withdraw – for now at least. Leaders of the Chartthaipattana, United Thai Nation and Democrat parties held urgent talks on the crisis on Thursday afternoon. Afterwards, Chartthaipattana leader Varawut Silpa-archa told reporters his party would remain in government and meet Paetongtarn to decide what to do. Losing another coalition partner would probably mean the end of her government and either an election or a bid by other parties to stitch together a new coalition. The loss of Bhumjaithai's 69 MPs left Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament and a snap election could be on the cards – barely two years after the last one in May 2023. Thailand's military said in a statement that army chief Gen Pana Claewplodtook 'affirms commitment to democratic principles and national sovereignty protection'. 'The Chief of Army emphasised that the paramount imperative is for 'Thai people to stand united' in collectively defending national sovereignty,' it said. Thailand's armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom's politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonise them. Thailand has suffered a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumours that another may be in the offing. Such an outcome would make Paetongtarn the third member of her family, after her aunt Yingluck and father Thaksin, to be kicked out of office by the military. The main opposition People's Party, which won the most seats in 2023 but was blocked by conservative senators from forming a government, urged Paetongtarn to call an election. The Palang Pracharath party, which led the government up to 2023, said the leaked recording showed Paetongtarn was weak and inexperienced, incapable of managing the country's security. Hundreds of anti-government protesters, some of them veterans of the royalist, anti-Thaksin 'Yellow Shirt' movement of the late 2000s, demonstrated outside Government House on Thursday demanding that Paetongtarn quit. Paetongtarn, 38, came to power in August 2024 at the head of an uneasy coalition between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the past 20 years battling against her father.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thai PM faces growing calls to quit following Cambodia phone row
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra faced mounting calls Thursday to resign after a leaked phone call she had with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen provoked widespread anger and prompted a key coalition partner to quit. The coalition government led by Paetongtarn's Pheu Thai party appears on the brink of collapse, throwing the kingdom into a fresh round of political instability as it seeks to boost its spluttering economy and avoid US President Donald Trump's swingeing trade tariffs. The conservative Bhumjaithai party, Pheu Thai's biggest partner, pulled out on Wednesday saying Paetongtarn's conduct in the leaked call had wounded the country and the army's dignity. In the call, Paetongtarn is heard discussing an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen -- who stepped down as Cambodian prime minister in 2023 after four decades but still wields considerable influence. She addresses the veteran leader as "uncle" and refers to the Thai army commander in the country's northeast as her opponent, a remark that sparked fierce criticism on social media. Losing Bhumjaithai's 69 MPs leaves Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament, and a snap election looks a clear possibility -- barely two years after the last one in May 2023. Two coalition parties, the United Thai Nation and Democrat Party, will hold meetings to discuss the situation later Thursday. Losing either would likely mean the end of Paetongtarn's government, and either an election or a bid by other parties to stitch together a new coalition. - Resignation calls - Thailand's military said in a statement that army chief General Pana Claewplodtook "affirms commitment to democratic principles and national sovereignty protection". "The Chief of Army emphasised that the paramount imperative is for 'Thai people to stand united' in collectively defending national sovereignty," it added. Thailand's armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom's politics, and politicians are usually careful not to antagonise them. The kingdom has had a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumours that another may be in the offing. If Paetongtarn is ousted in a coup she would be the third member of her family, after her aunt Yingluck and father Thaksin Shinawatra, to be kicked out of office by the military. The main opposition People's Party, which won most seats in 2023 but was blocked by conservative senators from forming a government, called on Paetongtarn to organise an election. "What happened yesterday was a leadership crisis that destroyed people's trust," People's Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said in a statement. The Palang Pracharath party, which led the government up to 2023 and is headed by General Prawit Wongsuwan -- who supported a 2014 coup against Paetongtarn's aunt Yingluck -- said the leaked recording showed she was weak and inexperienced, incapable of managing the country's security. Hundreds of anti-government protesters, some of them veterans of the royalist, anti-Thaksin "Yellow Shirt" movement of the late 2000s, demonstrated outside Government House Thursday demanding Paetongtarn quit. - Awkward coalition - Paetongtarn, 38, came to power in August 2024 at the head of an uneasy coalition between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the last 20 years battling against her father. Growing tensions within the coalition erupted into open warfare in the past week as Pheu Thai tried to take the interior minister job away from Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul. The loss of Bhumjaithai leaves Pheu Thai's coalition with just a handful more votes than the 248 needed for a majority. The battle between the conservative pro-royal establishment and Thaksin's political movement has dominated Thai politics for more than 20 years. Former Manchester City owner Thaksin, 75, still enjoys huge support from the rural base whose lives he transformed with populist policies in the early 2000s. But he is despised by Thailand's powerful elites, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising. The current Pheu Thai-led government has already lost one prime minister, former businessman Srettha Thavisin, who was kicked out by a court order last year that brought Paetongtarn to office. tp-tak-jts/fox
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Nine years after backing Brexit, Britain's economy is more European than ever
Monday will mark the ninth anniversary of the EU referendum. As you may have gleaned from these pages, I have been critical of Brexit. That said, there were – and indeed remain – sound economic arguments for the UK's exit from the EU. The European project, in its early years, was a force for good. By opening up trade between nations and reducing frictions to capital and labour flows, partly by harmonising rules and regulations across countries, it brought together a group of culturally like-minded nations with long historical ties in a way that enhanced both their prosperity and collective standing in the world. But then, along the way, it got badly off track. As Brussels bureaucrats broadened their remits and imposed ever more anti-growth laws upon European economies, the club turned into a gradually worsening headwind to economic progress and a source of political instability. This was a particular problem for the UK, with its more market-oriented economy and common law legal system. If the UK wanted any hope of keeping pace and staying relevant in a rapidly changing world, it needed to be politically nimble and economically flexible – and the EU offered neither. That is the case for leaving the bloc. But almost a decade on from the decision, what can we say about the results so far? First, following waves of instability and uncertainty in the first few years after the referendum, UK politics now looks mostly settled. This is not an assessment of either the quality of policy decisions or the proposals put forward by any of the major parties, but simply to say that the temperature of politics has cooled to a normal level. The same cannot be said for the US, where politics has taken an almost sectarian turn. Or the European continent, where openly far-Right and far-Left parties are one accident away from sweeping into power in a host of countries, including France. Second, we have only half-managed to make the most of our freedom to act independently on matters of international economic cooperation. As the Government's recent deals with the US and India show – in addition to the temporary cut of import tariffs to zero across a range of products in response to rising global trade frictions– the UK can now move at a much faster pace than before and can decide for itself what is in its own interest. But no deal yet has been truly ambitious enough to correct the wrong-headed notion that Brexit represents an inward turn. Third – and this is where the failure and irony lies – with each year that passes, the UK increasingly resembles the caricature of an overtaxed Continental economy with an overgrown and heavy-handed state. At 41pc of GDP, taxes have risen to their highest level since 1948. In 2016, the share was 37pc. While the burden of taxes has grown, ever more differentiated rates, allowances and reliefs, have made the system even more complicated. Increases in corporation tax, which occurred under the previous Conservative government, as well as Labour's decision to increase employer National Insurance, are among the most anti-growth policy decisions in a generation. Higher taxes, plus an eye-watering £1.2 trillion increase in the national debt, have pushed government spending from 40pc of GDP in 2016 to 45pc at present. Today, nearly half of all spending in the UK economy is decided in the public sector, where the absence of the disciplining forces of profit and loss allow waste and inefficiencies to grow unchecked. If only Whitehall's spending spree had brought us Swiss trains or Dutch GPs. We have the receipts, but not the perks. While the Government, to its credit, has made some progress in easing the archaic planning rules that inhibit much-needed investment in housebuilding and infrastructure, this has been eclipsed by an intensified push for net zero and a score of new anti-employment labour laws. Businesses now spend more time wrangling paperwork than innovating, investing and wooing customers – a sad twist of fate for a country that once ran an empire on ledger books and tea. When it comes to taxes and public spending, and major parts of regulation, the EU never mattered all that much anyway. The fundamental choices about the overall size and responsibilities of the state, as well as the rules that govern domestic markets, were largely decided in London. Brexit has shown, more than anything, that the UK's major economic problems were home-grown. Without the EU as a scapegoat, it has now become clear where responsibility lies. In the long run, this bitter lesson should do us a great deal of good. By returning decision-making power to Westminster, democratic accountability has been strengthened. And while we may have to go through a few turns of the game, voting out governments that fail to solve problems and fall short of their lofty campaign promises, it stands to reason that eventually we will land on a set of policymakers with solutions that actually work. Democracies operate through trial and error. For this reason, we should be cautious about judging Brexit on its immediate impacts. The short-run consequence of leaving the EU may not provide a reliable guide as to whether it will be for better or worse in the final analysis. Indeed, a lot will depend upon the direction in which the EU goes and Britain's ability to strike new alliances in a world that is turning more multipolar. The English Reformation, when the Church of England broke from the Catholic Church during the 16th century so that Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon could be annulled, is often cited as the original Brexit. Historians debate whether the tilt toward Protestantism and its attachment to hard work, efficiency and thrift was a necessary, or merely helpful, condition for the great capitalist revolution in Britain that followed and shaped the modern world. But the point remains that one did indeed follow the other. Most importantly, there were few early tell-tale signs that things might turn out so well, that is, judging by the ill-fated marriage record of Henry VIII.
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Thai PM faces growing calls to quit in Cambodia phone row
Paetongtarn Shinawatra came to power in August at the head of an uneasy coalition. (AP pic) BANGKOK : Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra faced mounting calls to resign today after a leaked phone call she had with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen provoked widespread anger and a key coalition partner to quit. The coalition government led by Shinawatra's Pheu Thai party is on the brink of collapse, throwing the kingdom into a fresh round of political instability as it seeks to boost its spluttering economy and avoid US President Donald Trump's swingeing trade tariffs. The conservative Bhumjaithai party, Pheu Thai's biggest partner, pulled out yesterday saying Paetongtarn's conduct in the leaked call had wounded the country and the army's dignity. Losing Bhumjaithai's 69 MPs leaves Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament, and a snap election looks a clear possibility – barely two years after the last one in May 2023. Two coalition parties, the United Thai Nation and Democrat Party, will hold urgent meetings to discuss the situation later today. Losing either would likely mean the end of Paetongtarn's government and either an election or a bid by other parties to stitch together a new coalition. Resignation calls The Palang Pracharath party, which led the government up to 2023 and is headed by General Prawit Wongsuwan – who supported a coup against Paetongtarn's aunt Yingluck – called for the premier to resign. The party's statement said the leaked recording showed Paetongtarn was weak and inexperienced, and incapable of managing the country's security. 'This already has proved that Thailand has a leader who will lead the country to a bad situation and weakness,' the statement said. Another opposition party, Thai Sang Thai, also called for Paethongtarn to step down, saying her conversation with Hun Sen had damaged the kingdom's sovereignty and the army. In the leaked phone call, Paetongtarn is heard discussing an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen – who stepped down as Cambodian prime minister in 2023 after four decades but still wields considerable influence. She addresses the veteran leader as 'uncle' and refers to the Thai army commander in the country's northeast as her opponent, a remark that sparked fierce criticism on social media, particularly on Pheu Thai's page and the Royal Thai Army's page. Thailand's armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom's politics, and politicians are usually careful not to antagonise them. The kingdom has had a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumours that another may be in the offing. If she is ousted she would be the third member of her family, after her aunt Yingluck and father Thaksin Shinawatra, to be kicked out of office by the army. Awkward coalition Paetongtarn, 38, came to power in August 2024 at the head of an uneasy coalition between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the last 20 years battling against her father. Growing tensions within the coalition erupted into open warfare in the past week as Pheu Thai tried to take the interior minister job away from Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul. The loss of Bhumjaithai leaves Pheu Thai's coalition with just a handful more votes than the 248 needed for a majority. The battle between the conservative pro-royal establishment and Thaksin's political movement has dominated Thai politics for more than 20 years. Former Manchester City owner Thaksin, 75, still enjoys huge support from the rural base whose lives he transformed with populist policies in the early 2000s. But he is despised by Thailand's powerful elites, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising. Thaksin returned to Thailand in 2023 as Pheu Thai took power after 15 years in self-exile overseas. The current Pheu Thai-led government has already lost one prime minister, former businessman Srettha Thavisin, who was kicked out by a court order last year, bringing Paetongtarn to office.
Arab News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Mali's government adopts bill granting junta leader 5 more years in power
BAMAKO, Mali: Mali's Council of Ministers on Wednesday adopted a controversial bill granting the head of the military junta an additional five years in power. Gen. Assimi Goita has led the West African nation since orchestrating two coups in 2020 and 2021. The move follows the military regime's dissolution of political parties in May. According to the government's cabinet statement, the bill will lead to the 'revision of the Transition Charter, granting the Head of State a five-year renewable mandate starting in 2025.' It implements the recommendations of the national dialogue consultations organized by the military regime in April, which the political parties boycotted. The bill now awaits ratification by the National Transitional Council, the legislative body overseeing the transition. Earlier in May, Gen. Goita signed a decree dissolving political parties, a decision made against a backdrop of burgeoning opposition. It coincided with a surge in kidnappings of pro-democracy activists in the capital, Bamako, and just days after a demonstration by several hundred activists. Mali, a landlocked nation in the semiarid region of Sahel, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade. The nation has seen two military coups since 2020 as an insurgency by jihadi groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group worsened. The junta had promised a return to civilian rule by March 2024, but later postponed elections. No date has been set yet for the presidential election.
