The petition submitted by a group of Thai Senators was submitted to the court's secretariat last weekend.
The preliminary inspection process will include verifying the authenticity of the signature of the petitioning parties, and assessing whether the reasons stated in the petition are consistent with the provisions of the Constitution or not. If the review is completed by Tuesday (6, 24), the petition could be considered as early as Thursday (26).
The Constitutional Court used to hold meetings on Wednesdays, but recently the meetings have moved to Thursdays. However, as of Sunday evening (6, 22), the next meeting schedule has not been announced and the Court's judges have not been officially summoned to discuss the petition.
If all the documents are valid, the petition will be transferred to a first-instance subcommittee of at least 3 judges to assess whether the case is legally qualified to be submitted to the final panel. Only after this step was the case brought to the entire jury for voting.
The source said there are currently no plans to hold a meeting on Wednesday or Thursday. If necessary, an extraordinary meeting may be convened as early as July 1, and may take place in the next two days, July 2 or 3.
The incident could put more pressure on Prime Minister Paetongtarn, who is struggling to maintain support from partners in the ruling coalition, following a leak in a private conversation with Cambodian Senate Speaker Hun Sen.
A legal expert and former advisor to General Prawit Wongsuwon, Mr. Paisal Puech mongkol, said that if the Court accepts the lawsuit and decides to temporarily suspend Ms. Paetongtarn, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will likely hold the role of acting Prime Minister.
Mr. Paisal also said that the moves to transfer internal positions in the army and the recent investigation of high-level political cases may be signs of a broader institutional action being prepared.
