Thailand's military-appointed legislature found ousted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of negligence on Friday, according to a Reuters tally of votes cast at a televised impeachment hearing.
A verdict carries with it a five-year ban from politics for Yingluck, who was removed from office for abuse of power days before a military coup toppled the remnants of her government in May.
The decision required three-fifths of the vote, or 132 of the 220 members of Thailand's National Legislative Assembly.
Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will face a criminal charge of negligence in the Supreme Court and possible jail term, the Attorney General's Office said on Friday, in a move likely to stoke tensions in the divided country.
The charges against Thailand's first female prime minister, who was removed from office for abuse of power in May days before a military coup, concern her role in scheme that paid farmers above market prices for rice and cost Thailand billions of dollars.
If found guilty, Yingluck would face a maximum of 10 years in jail.
The announcement comes just hours before the country's military-stacked legislature is scheduled to vote in a separate impeachment case against Yingluck for failing to exercise sufficient oversight over the scheme.
If found guilty in parliament, Yingluck faces a five-year ban from politics. That could be divisive in a country still tense after last year's coup that ended months of protests on the streets of Bangkok against her administration.
Yingluck remains popular among the rural poor that handed her a landslide electoral victory in 2011 and benefited from the rice scheme.
Security has been increased around the parliament building in Bangkok where the vote will take place from around 10 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). Thailand is under martial law and public gatherings are banned. Authorities have been quick to stifle any public protest.
In the third and final hearing in the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday, Yingluck disputed the charges and said the scheme boosted the economy.
"Banning me for five years would be a violation of my basic rights," Yingluck said in an almost hour-long address to the NLA on Thursday.
"This case that is aimed solely against me has a hidden agenda, it is politically driven."
Yingluck's supporters say the charges are part of a broader campaign by the ruling military junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to limit the influence of her powerful family and prevent her from running in any future election.
They say the NLA is full of her opponents and expect the assembly to vote against her.
The impeachment is the latest chapter in 10 years of turbulent politics that have pitted Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, himself a former prime minister, against the royalist-military establishment which sees the Shinawatras as a threat and reviles their populist policies.
A decision to ban Yingluck from politics would require three-fifths of the NLA vote. A ban would have little immediate impact on Thai politics, as parties have been banned from engaging in political activity since the coup.
