Thailand: Former PM Thaksin Shinawatra postpones return
August 5, 2023
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Saturday he is postponing a return to his homeland for medical reasons.
The delay, however, would be for "no more than two weeks" after he was originally due to return to the kingdom on August 10, but would now require a "physical examination first," he posted on social media.
Shinawatra is currently monitoring events back home as Thailand remains gripped in a post-election gridlock that could see his family's party lead a coalition government.
In exile for 15 years
The 74-year-old billionaire and former Manchester City owner, who won two elections but was ousted in a 2006 military coup, has been in self-imposed exile for 15 years. He has yet to return as he faces criminal charges relating to corruption that he claims are politically motivated.
His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra was a candidate to become prime minister for the Pheu Thai party that came second in the election.
But Paetongtarn stepped back from her candidacy, paving the way for property tycoon Srettha Thavisin, as she said last month: "The Pheu Thai Party will nominate Mr. Srettha Thavisin. This is clear."
Paetongtarn is all too aware that political parties who secure the most seats in nationwide votes don't necessarily end up forming a government.
Pheu Thai won the most seats in the 2019 general election but was unable to form a government because the Senate backed Prayut, a former military general who in 2014 had led a military coup.
Thaksin's return looms large over political landscape
A bogeyman for Thailand's pro-military and royalist establishment, Thaksin's return has the potential to inflame an already tense political landscape.
The kingdom is in political deadlock after the military-dominated Senate blocked the leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP) from becoming PM, despite securing the most parliamentary seats in the May election.
The House speaker has delayed a prime ministerial vote until after a constitutional court ruling on August 16.
jsi/sms (AFP, Reuters)