BANGKOK-
Thailand’s Constitutional Court is almost certain to rule against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on abuse of power charges on Wednesday, forcing her from office and raising the possibility of fresh mass protests by her supporters.
That could lead to confrontation with anti-government groups which have been protesting in the capital, Bangkok, for six months in a bid to topple Yingluck. Those demonstrations disrupted a general election in February that she had been expected to win.
The crisis broadly pits Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in 2006 and now lives in exile to avoid a jail term handed down in 2008 for abuse of power.
Yingluck’s supporters accuse the court, which said it would issue its decision on Wednesday, of bias in frequently ruling against the government.
In 2008, the court forced two Thaksin-linked prime ministers from office. A similar ruling against Yingluck is expected on Wednesday.
Yingluck defended herself in court on Tuesday against a charge relating to her transfer of National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri in 2011, which opponents say was designed to benefit her Puea Thai Party and a family member.
Yingluck, looking composed as she took the stand wearing a blue silk suit and a large pearl necklace, said a committee of ministers had made the decision to transfer the security chief.
“I did not interfere in the decision process … which should be for the benefit of the land,” Yingluck told the court. “I have never benefited from any transfer of civil servants.”
Some legal experts say her entire government will have to go if she is forced to step down, but her party rejects that.
She has led a caretaker administration with limited powers since dissolving parliament in December ahead of the election and her party says another interim prime minister can be chosen from among her five deputies.
“There is no reason why the whole cabinet should go with her,” Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to Thaksin, told a foreign news agency. “That would be like carrying out a double execution.”
