BANGKOK — Thailand's Constitutional Court will reconvene next week on two cases that could plunge the Southeast Asian kingdom into turmoil: one targeting Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, and the other, the country's largest opposition party.

Srettha could be thrown out of office if he loses his ethics case over the appointment of a Cabinet minister with a criminal conviction.

The Move Forward Party (MFP), which won most seats at last year's general election but was blocked from forming the government, could be dissolved over its campaign pledge to reform Thailand's tough royal insult laws.

The court said on Wednesday it had "ordered relevant parties to identify witnesses and evidence" in Srettha's case, and told the election commission to submit more witness accounts in its petition against the MFP.

The court will meet for further deliberations next Tuesday — the same day former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will formally face charges of insulting the monarchy.

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat has said he is confident the party will win its case, warning that a dissolution order would be an "attack on democracy."

But the Constitutional Court has dismissed prime ministers and wound up political parties in the past, most recently the MFP's forerunner, the Future Forward Party, over financial issues in 2020.

That dissolution was the catalyst for mass youth-led street demonstrations that shook the capital Bangkok for months and helped the MFP achieve poll success last year.

The court's decisions in the current cases have the potential to reignite tensions between the kingdom's powerful conservative, pro-royalist establishment and the more progressive parties that now dominate parliament.

The court last month agreed to consider a petition to remove Srettha, which was submitted under ethics rules by 40 senators appointed by the junta that ruled Thailand from 2014.

The case relates to Pichit Chuenban, a lawyer with close links to Thaksin, who was appointed as a minister in a Cabinet reshuffle and who served six months in jail for contempt of court in 2008.

Pichit resigned from his role in a bid to protect Srettha, but the court agreed to continue hearing the case.

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