FORMER prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has returned to Thailand after 15 years in exile, hours ahead of a vote that determines who will be the country’s next leader.
Thailand’s most successful elected leader has long been feared by conservative royalists, who have backed military coups and contentious court cases to weaken him.
But now the brash, politically-ambitious telecoms tycoon is back, presumably after striking a quiet deal with the same men who unseated his party in a 2014 coup to keep him out of prison. He has sentences of up to 10 years outstanding from criminal cases he says were politically motivated.
He landed in the capital Bangkok at 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on a private jet from Dubai via Singapore. There were cheers, speeches and songs from hundreds of his ecstatic supporters as Mr Thaksin finally made good on the many promises he has made to return. Many had travelled overnight from his party’s stronghold in north-eastern Thailand to witness this moment.
But Mr Thaksin was unable to greet most of them. Flanked by his two daughters and son, he emerged briefly from the airport terminal and paid his respects to a portrait of the king and queen.
He was immediately taken to the Supreme Court where he was handed an eight year prison sentence, and then to Bangkok Remand Prison. No-one expects him to stay in custody long.
Outside the Don Mueang Airport, 63-year-old Samniang Kongpolparn had been waiting since Monday evening to see Mr Thaksin. She, like many of the other supporters who had gathered there, had travelled from Surin province in the northeast, the stronghold of Mr Thaksin’s party in past decades.
“He’s the best prime minister we’ve ever had. Even though I won’t get to see him today, I still wanted to come to show him support,” she said. “I’m ok with them reconciling with the pro-military government, or else we’re stuck with the senators. We don’t want that.”
Mr Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party is expected later today to join a coalition government – a byzantine process which in three months has taken Thailand full circle.
It began with the heady hopes of a new dawn led by the radical young Move Forward party, which won the most seats in the May election.
Move Forward initially formed a partnership with Pheu Thai but it’s now certain that the coalition will include almost everyone but the reformers, including two parties led by former coup-makers – a deal with its sworn enemies that Pheu Thai vowed it would not do.
Pheu Thai insists the two developments are unconnected. Few people believe that.
