Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and part of her cabinet to step down yesterday.

The court found Ms Shinawatra and nine members of her cabinet guilty of abusing their authority by transferring a senior civil servant to another position in 2011.

However, the court left nearly two dozen cabinet members in their posts, including Deputy Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, who was quickly appointed as acting leader.

The court ruled the transfer of National Security Council chief Thawil Pliensri had been carried out to benefit Ms Shinawatra’s party and, therefore, violated the constitution.

“Transferring government officials must be done in accordance with moral principle,” the court said. “Transferring with a hidden agenda is not acceptable.”

The prime minister’s fortunes plunged late last year when her party’s MPs tried to ram through a law that would have given an amnesty to political offenders, including her billionaire brother and exiled ex-prime minister Thaksin.

The move reignited demonstrations against Thaksin and eventual street fighting by anti-government activists.

Seeking to ease the pressure, Ms Shinawatra dissolved the lower house in December and called elections for February.

But her opponents on the street disrupted the polls, which in turn were invalidated by the courts.

More than 20 people died in the ensuing political violence.

Ms Shinawatra’s foes have been seeking to topple her in the courts, in what her supporters describe as an attempt at a “judicial coup.”

It was anti-government senators who lodged the case over the transfer of the national security council chief, a move previously ruled unlawful by another court.

“We were bracing ourselves for this verdict,” said pro-Shinawatra red shirt activist leader Jatuporn Prompan

“Everything our enemies do is to cripple the democratic process.

“The court chose a middle way today. It could have removed her whole cabinet but it chose to remove only her and those ministers responsible for the transfer,” Mr Jatuporn said.

“There is no reason why we should take up arms. We will rally peacefully as planned on May 10.”