Thai PM suspended while court mulls if he defied term limits

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's government held its first official meetings Thursday under an acting prime minister, after a court ordered the suspension of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha a day earlier while it considered if he violated the position's legal term limits.

Prayuth's removal is likely to only be temporary since the Constitutional Court has generally ruled in the government’s favor in a slew of political cases. Tipanan Sirichana, deputy spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office, said the court decision meant Prayuth was suspended until a final decision, though no date was set for that.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan has assumed the role of acting prime minister, taking over Prayuth's duties. On Thursday, he chaired a meeting of a committee on communications during national disasters that he was previously scheduled to attend.

Prayuth, while suspended from prime minister duties, has kept his other Cabinet position as defense minister, and in that capacity he attended a monthly meeting of the government's Defense Council, participating via video.

Any court ruling allowing Prayuth to stay on as prime minster risks invigorating a protest movement that has long sought to oust him and reopening deep fissures in Thailand, which has been rocked by repeated bursts of political chaos since a coup toppled then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

Since then, Thaksin, a telecoms billionaire whose populist appeal threatened the traditional power structure, has remained at the center of the country's politics, as his supporters and opponents fought for power both at the ballot box and in the streets, sometimes violently. The 2014 takeover ousted his sister's government from power.

Spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said Prayuth would respect the court's...