BY JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI AP
Thai ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra entered jail to start serving an 8-year sentence Tuesday, hours after returning to the nation after years of self-imposed exile.
The divisive former chief returned the identical day {that a} social gathering affiliated with him faces a key vote on its path to kind a brand new authorities.
Thaksin has mentioned his determination to return has nothing to do with the Pheu Thai social gathering’s bid for energy, however many imagine the social gathering made offers with pro-military events to facilitate the 74-year-old billionaire’s return.
Thaksin’s personal jet landed round 9 a.m. in Bangkok, the place he was welcomed by household and supporters.
After strolling out of the airport, Thaksin positioned a flower wreath and prostrated himself earlier than a portrait of Thailand’s king and queen. He spent a second greeting supporters and the media ready in entrance of the terminal however didn’t communicate.
A whole lot of his supporters gathered outdoors of the airport hours forward of his arrival, donning crimson, a colour lengthy related to Thaksin, and holding signal with welcoming messages. They confirmed their devotion to him with songs and chants, then raised raucous cheers when he appeared on the entrance.
“I really feel fulfilled that I traveled right here as we speak to select him up. If potential I wish to hug him. Everybody has tears, tears popping out of their eyes,” mentioned Makawan Payakkae, a 43-year-old from Maha Sarakham province.
Many years in the past, Thaksin promoted populist insurance policies and used his telecommunications fortune to construct his personal Thai Rak Thai social gathering and be elected prime minister in 2001 and simply reelected in 2005, earlier than being ousted in a navy coup in 2006 and fleeing into exile a couple of years later.
His convoy first went to the Supreme Court docket, which confirmed a legal conviction and sentence given to him in absentia throughout his exile. He then left the court docket and went to Bangkok’s most important jail.
His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a key determine in Pheu Thai, posted household photographs with Thaksin within the center on Fb with a message thanking individuals who went to the airport to welcome her father, saying “me and my household are very grateful.”
Pheu Thai is the most recent in a string of events affiliated with Thaksin. The navy coup that ousted him triggered years of upheaval and division that pitted a largely poor, rural majority within the north that helps Thaksin towards royalists, the navy and their city backers.
Lower than every week earlier than Could elections, Thaksin introduced he want to return earlier than his birthday in July, however the plan was repeatedly delayed, with he and Paetongtarn citing each post-election uncertainties and his well being.
Pheu Thai got here in second in the elections however took over management in forming a brand new authorities after the shock winner, the progressive Transfer Ahead Occasion, was repeatedly rejected by conservative senators appointed by a earlier navy authorities.
Transfer Ahead’s reform agenda appealed deeply to many Thais, significantly youthful voters who have been disenchanted by practically a decade of military-backed rule, however was seen as a menace by the nation’s conservative elites.
After greater than three months with no new authorities for Thailand, Parliament convened on Tuesday to try to decide on a chief minister once more. Pheu Thai’s candidate, former property developer Srettha Thavisin, was the one identify nominated by his social gathering chief Chonlanan Srikaew. Pheu Thai launched the bid to kind the federal government after it assembled an 11-party coalition together with two events allied with its former navy adversaries, holding 314 seats within the 500-member Home of Representatives.
Srettha wants some assist from the non-elected Senate, appointed by a earlier navy authorities, to attain a majority within the mixed parliamentary vote. Each homes of Parliament vote collectively for the prime minister below the military-implemented structure, in an association designed to guard conservative military-backed rule. Senators, like the military, see themselves as guardians of conventional conservative royalist values.
Home Speaker Wan Muhammad Noor Matha has allotted time for lawmakers to debate on the nomination earlier than the vote takes place within the afternoon. Srettha didn’t run for workplace and the legislation doesn’t require a chief ministerial candidate to be an elected lawmaker. Parliament additionally doesn’t require him to be current on the vote.
Pheu Thai has been closely criticized by a few of its supporters for backtracking on a pre-election pledge to not be part of fingers with pro-military events. Occasion officers have defended the choice by saying it was vital to interrupt the political impasse and search reconciliation after many years of deep political divisions.
Thaksin was ousted whereas he was overseas in 2006. He got here again briefly to Thailand in 2008 to face a court docket trial earlier than fleeing the nation. He has averted returning over considerations he wouldn’t be handled pretty by the military-backed authorities and institution that has lengthy held a pointy animosity towards him.
He has remained lively in Thai politics, nonetheless, typically making video calls to rallies of his supporters and events backed by him.
“Thaksin’s plans to return to Thailand have been postponed after the election outcomes have been introduced — this suggests a powerful connection between the election, formation of coalitions, and choice of the prime minister on one hand, and Thaksin’s private agenda on the opposite,” mentioned Napon Jatusripitak, a political science researcher and visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
“Thaksin has managed to make this election about himself personally, and the course of a Pheu Thai-led coalition closely depends upon his private whims.”
Thaksin may wind up serving his full sentence except he receives a royal pardon. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam of the outgoing military-linked authorities has mentioned that Thaksin is eligible to request a pardon and will obtain particular therapy due to his age.
Napon mentioned Thaksin’s determination to return now means that “he has obtained assurances that he won’t should serve a jail sentence in full.”
