The Constitutional Court has dismissed an ethics breach complaint filed against former Deupty Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and former Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong over the Department of Special Investigation (DSI)’s investigation into alleged vote manipulation during the Senate selection.

The unprecedented rejection by the Privy Council of a decree to dissolve parliament has intensified the unresolved legal debate over an Acting Prime Minister’s authority. Legal academic Worachet Pakeerut stressed that the authority also rests with an Acting PM, warning that the Privy Council’s intervention could also risk deepening constitutional ambiguity.

The Acting PM Phumtham Wechayachai has submitted a petition seeking the King’s endorsement for a House dissolution in order to untangle the current political deadlock.

Following the political turmoil caused by the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of former PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a controversy has arisen over whether the acting PM has the power to dissolve parliament. According to Worachet Pakeerut, a lecturer at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Law, he does.

Thailand and Cambodia have entered into a second day of artillery exchanges, with casualties continuing to rise on both sides. The international community has called for a ceasefire, while the UN Security Council (UNSC) was scheduled to hold an urgent meeting behind closed doors on the border clashes on 25 July.

Ministers and members of the Thai media have arrived in China’s Xinjiang Province to visit and check on 40 Uyghur deportees who were repatriated to China, amid concerns over their well-being in China.

Ministers have confirmed the deportation of 40 Uyghur refugees, claiming that they agreed to return to China, and that no third country had offered to take them. Meanwhile, letters written by the Uyghurs have been revealed, showing their desire not to return to China.

4 Thai fishermen have been released from detention in Myanmar after their boats were fired upon by Myanmar vessels for trespassing in Myanmar’s territorial waters. Thailand’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that the boats strayed into Myanmar’s territorial waters and did not announce diplomatic countermeasures. Further investigation is underway.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Phumtham Wechayachai announced yesterday (25 December) that the Cabinet’s Constitutional Amendment Committee will propose 3 referendums on constitutional amendments and that the first will ask whether people want to amend the Constitution without amending chapters relating to the monarchy.

The Cabinet’s plan for constitutional amendments will not involve sections concerning the monarchy to avoid conflict, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Phumtham Wechayachai.