Nakharin Mektrairat: New Constitutional Court president at center of Thailand’s political conflict

File photo : Nakharin Mektrairat

Nakharin Mektrairat has been voted in as the new Constitutional Court president by his fellow judges and will replace Worawit Kangsasitiam whose term ended in September.

Nakharin, 66, received five votes from the nine-member court, with two votes each for his two competitors. His official appointment as court president is pending royal endorsement.

Nakharin has been a Constitutional Court judge since November 2015 and is known for his decisions in two key cases – one regarding then-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s eight-year term limit, and the other, the dissolution of the Future Forward Party.

Past rulings

In the first case, Nakharin found himself in the minority when he ruled that General Prayut’s eight-year term expired on August 24, 2022 as he had served uninterruptedly as PM since 2014 following the coup he led as the Army chief in…