Thaksin Returns From Exile After Deal With Former Thai Foes
- Thaksin sent to Bangkok prison to serve eight-year jail term
- Ex-leader’s return coincides with premier vote on Tuesday
This article is for subscribers only.
Back in 2008, the last time Thaksin Shinawatra stepped foot in Thailand, he was adored among the nation’s poorer masses and widely despised by the royalist elite who backed his removal in a coup two years earlier.
On Tuesday, the former prime minister returned to Thailand after his political allies cut a deal with the same military-backed establishment that spent years overturning his party’s election victories through coups and court decisions. He bowed before a portrait of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and then waved to hundreds of supporters clad in red at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, with some chanting “We Love Thaksin!” and “Thaksin, Keep Fighting!”