BANGKOK – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on Saturday that he will not return to the country unless there is a resolution in the post-election deadlock that might see his family’s party lead a coalition administration.
The 74-year-old businessman, who won two elections before being deposed in a 2006 military coup, has been in self-exile for 15 years and has long expressed a desire to return home – despite facing criminal charges he claims are politically motivated.
Thaksin said on Saturday that he would be late for a medical appointment.
“I would like to postpone my return date to Thailand for no more than two weeks,” he remarked on Twitter as X.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a prime ministerial candidate for the Pheu Thai party, which finished second in the poll, stated last month that her father will come on August 10.
Thaksin’s comeback, a bogeyman for Thailand’s pro-military and royalist elite, has the potential to inflame an already hostile political landscape.
The country is in a political stalemate after the military-dominated Senate barred the head of the Move Forward Party (MFP) from becoming prime minister despite the fact that the MFP won the most parliamentary seats in the May election.
The Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party has been attempting to establish a government, with property magnate Srettha Thavisin expected to be its prime minister contender.
The House Speaker has postponed the PM vote until after the constitutional court rules on August 16.
According to Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst at Naresuan University, there has recently been speculation of a pact between Thaksin and the elite to create a government with pro-military parties.
“(The delay) means he got a signal that the deal isn’t going through,” she explained.
Since 2001, Thaksin-linked parties have dominated Thai politics, but they have lost two prime ministers to military coups and another to a court verdict.
Thaksin has been in self-exile, primarily in Dubai, since 2008, and he frequently communicates with fans on the Clubhouse social media platform under the moniker Tony Woodsome.
During his time overseas, he was convicted in four criminal offences, one of which has since passed the statute of limitations.
His other three sentences total ten years, and he is still being investigated in another case.
He stated in May that he was ready to face punishment, despite his long-held belief that the cases were politically motivated.
Source: AFP
