Thailand's Pheu Thai launches PM bid as fugitive figurehead Thaksin eyes return

The Pheu Thai Party of Thailand will attempt to establish a new government in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, coinciding with the anticipated return of its fugitive leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been in exile for 17 years. The country has been under a caretaker government since March, and the new parliament has been deadlocked for several weeks after the anti-establishment election winners, Move Forward, were prevented from taking office by conservative lawmakers. As a result, Pheu Thai, a major political force led by the wealthy Shinawatra family, has taken the lead in forming a new government.

Pheu Thai, which has won five elections in the past two decades, has formed a controversial alliance with two parties linked to the military that staged coups against its governments in 2006 and 2014. On Tuesday, the lower house and the military-appointed Senate will decide whether to endorse the nomination of Srettha Thavisin, a real estate tycoon who recently entered politics, as prime minister.

On Monday, Srettha admitted that Pheu Thai had failed to secure the majority it aimed for in the election. Consequently, the party must form a coalition with rivals it had previously vowed not to work with. “Things that were said during the election were one thing. But we didn’t really get the landslide, so we had to renege,” said Srettha, who needs the support of over half of the legislature. “We are not lying to the people, but we have to be realistic.”

The return of Thaksin, who is both beloved and reviled in Thailand, is expected to overshadow Tuesday’s vote. The former prime minister fled the country in 2008 to evade a jail sentence for abuse of power, following a military coup that accused him of corruption and disloyalty to the monarchy. Thaksin, a former policeman, telecoms tycoon, and owner of an English Premier League football club, gained popularity by implementing populist measures such as cash handouts, village loans, farm subsidies, and universal healthcare, appealing to the working class.

However, his rapid ascent and that of other capitalist newcomers caused friction with royalists, the military, and old money families, leading to an ongoing power struggle. Thaksin has consistently maintained that the charges against him were politically motivated and has repeatedly promised to return. Upon his arrival, he is expected to be arrested and taken directly to the Supreme Court for a hearing, followed by imprisonment, according to the national police commissioner.

Nevertheless, Thaksin appears determined and confident to follow through with his return this time, amid speculation that Pheu Thai’s alliance with its adversaries is part of a behind-the-scenes agreement Thaksin negotiated. Pheu Thai has denied Thaksin’s involvement in their bid to form a government, and the former leader has denied conspiring with the generals who orchestrated the coups against him and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in 2006 and 2014.

“Tomorrow, at 9 a.m., I want permission to come back to live on Thai soil and breathe the air with other Thai people,” Thaksin said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

(Writing by Martin Petty; editing by Mark Heinrich)