Thai premier faces possible court order to leave office

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court is set to decide whether Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has exceeded the eight-year term limit of his job and must leave office immediately. A ruling in Prayuth’s favor risks invigorating a protest movement long opposed to the former army general who led the 2014 military coup. Protesters plan a demonstration Friday ahead of the afternoon ruling. Prayuth was suspended from his duties last month, and his spokesperson says he’ll respect the court’s decision. At issue is when the countdown for his time in office began: when he became prime minister in the military government in 2014, when the current constitution took effect in 2017, or after the last election in 2019.