Former PM Thaksin Shinawatra delays return to Thailand

BANGKOK: Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Saturday he had delayed his return to the kingdom next week, as he awaits a breakthrough in a post-election gridlock that could see his family’s party lead a coalition government.
The 74-year-old billionaire, who won two elections but was ousted in a 2006 military coup, has been in self-exile for 15 years and long said he wished to return home — despite facing criminal charges that he says are politically motivated.
On Saturday, Thaksin said that he had delayed his return due to a medical appointment.
“I would like to postpone my return date to Thailand for not more than two weeks,” he said on Twitter, recently rebranded X.
His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was a prime-minister candidate for the Pheu Thai party that came second in the election, announced last month that her father was due to arrive on August 10.
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 prime minister after it won the most parliamentary seats in the May election.
The Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party has been trying to form a government, and property tycoon Srettha Thavisin is set to be its prime minister nominee.
The House speaker has pushed the date for a PM vote until after a constitutional court ruling on August 16.
Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst with Naresuan University, said there had been recent speculation of a deal between Thaksin and the elite to form a coalition that would include pro-military parties.
“(The delay) means he got a signal that the deal is not made,” she said.
Parties linked to Thaksin have dominated Thai politics since 2001, but lost two prime ministers to military coups and another to a court ruling.
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.
He was convicted during his time abroad in four criminal cases, one of which has now passed the statute of limitations.
His sentences for the other three total 10 years, and he is still under investigation in another case.
In May, he said he was ready to face justice, though he has long maintained the cases were politically motivated.