BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra will meet a senior army commander on Friday in a bid to contain a political crisis sparked by a leaked phone call that has endangered her government and reignited deep rifts in the country’s power structure.
In the leaked recording, Paetongtarn, who has been in office less than a year, referred to Lieutenant General Boonsin Padklang as her “opponent” while discussing an ongoing border dispute with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. The fallout has been swift and severe — forcing her to issue a rare public apology and costing her government a key coalition partner.
The conservative Bhumjaithai party quit the coalition on Wednesday, accusing the prime minister of disrespecting the military and undermining national interests. Their departure has left the ruling Pheu Thai-led alliance with a razor-thin majority, raising fears of government collapse and fresh political turmoil.
Despite the blow, Paetongtarn received a reprieve on Friday when the conservative Democrat Party — another crucial partner — declared its continued support, vowing to help resolve the crisis and stabilize governance. “The Democrat Party will remain in the government to help resolve the challenges the country is currently facing,” the party said in a statement.
Late Thursday, the Chartthaipattana Party also confirmed it would stay in the coalition, following emergency talks with the Democrats and United Thai Nation (UTN). With Bhumjaithai gone, every remaining alliance member now holds increased leverage over the government’s survival.
Friday’s meeting between Paetongtarn and General Boonsin — commander of northeast Thai forces near the disputed Cambodia border — is being viewed as an urgent gesture to repair ties with the military, a powerful institution in Thai politics. Her conciliatory visit comes after she was widely criticized for appearing deferential to Hun Sen in the call, while simultaneously offending domestic powerbrokers.
Thailand’s foreign ministry has formally protested the leak to Cambodia, calling it a breach of diplomatic norms. Within Thailand, opposition voices and former allies alike have condemned Paetongtarn’s handling of the situation, with street protests erupting on Thursday and demands for her resignation or new elections echoing from various corners of the political landscape.
Still, her public apology — made Thursday while flanked by police and army chiefs in a rare show of solidarity — may have temporarily defused military ire. Whether that support holds remains to be seen, especially as the government grapples with a faltering economy, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs threaten to upend trade dynamics.
Paetongtarn’s precarious position is further complicated by the uneasy origins of her coalition. When she took office last August, it was atop a contentious alliance between her Pheu Thai Party — the political movement founded by her father, ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra — and a collection of conservative, pro-military factions long at odds with her family’s legacy.
Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 military coup, remains a divisive figure in Thai politics. His populist policies transformed rural lives and earned him enduring grassroots support, but also provoked deep animosity from Thailand’s royalist and elite establishment, which saw his rule as corrupt and destabilizing.
Now 75 and living under reduced restrictions in Thailand after years in self-imposed exile, Thaksin still wields considerable influence behind the scenes. But for his daughter, the current prime minister, that legacy is both an asset and a burden.
With coalition numbers stretched thin and each political misstep carrying outsized consequences, Paetongtarn’s survival may depend on whether she can walk the tightrope between reconciliation and reform — all while under the watchful gaze of the military and a nation still grappling with the ghosts of its political past.
