BANGKOK Aug 20 (Online): Thailand\u2019s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is set to return to the kingdom on Tuesday, the same day as a key parliamentary vote could end a political deadlock, his daughter said.<\/p>\n
The 74-year-old billionaire was ousted in a 2006 military coup and has spent 15 years in self-exile. Thaksin has long said he wanted to return home but faces multiple criminal charges that he says are politically motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Tuesday, August 22, 9am I will pick up my father Thaksin at Don Muang Airport,\u201d his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is one of the Pheu Thai Party\u2019s candidates for prime minister, said on Instagram. Thaksin later said he was definitely coming home this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to offend people. I want everyone to love each other. I want the country to be peaceful,\u201d he told BBC Thai on Saturday.
\n\u201cI\u2019m old, I miss my grandchildren, I want to be with my family.\u201d His return will coincide with an afternoon vote on whether to approve Srettha Thavisin \u2014 from the Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party \u2014 as prime minister and end months of political uncertainty since a May general election.<\/p>\n
To become premier, Srettha needs to muster a majority across the lower house of 500 elected MPs, and the 250-member senate that was handpicked by the kingdom\u2019s last junta.
\nThe progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most parliamentary seats in the election but the senate blocked its leader from becoming prime minister, after being spooked by a controversial policy to reform the kingdom\u2019s harsh royal insult laws.<\/p>\n
Pheu Thai came second in the race and has been trying to form a government. While he\u2019s long been a divisive figure, political analysts don\u2019t expect Thaksin\u2019s presence to kick off protests.
\n\u201cI think Thai people have moved on from Thaksin,\u201d Verapat Pariyawong, a political analyst, said. Verapat expects Thaksin will likely be taken to court upon arrival.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis return means that he is confident that when he lands in Thailand he won\u2019t be a victim of political games and that the steps are there to make sure he is in a comfortable position,\u201d Verapat said.
\n\u201cThe real question is whether he will actually come back, and if yes, where did he get that assurance from?\u201d Thaksin has lived in self-exile, mostly in Dubai, since 2008 and regularly addresses supporters on the Clubhouse social media platform using the alias Tony Woodsome.<\/p>\n
He was convicted during his time abroad in four criminal cases, one of which has now passed the statute of limitations.
\nHis sentences for the other three total 10 years in prison, while he is still under investigation in another case, and in his May message he said he was ready to face justice. He has long maintained the cases were politically motivated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BANGKOK Aug 20 (Online): Thailand\u2019s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is set to return to the kingdom on Tuesday, the same day as a key parliamentary vote could end a political deadlock, his daughter said. The 74-year-old billionaire was ousted in a 2006 military coup […]<\/p>\n
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