Thaksin - a hugely influential but also divisive politician - began an eight-year jail term on his return, though commentators have noted that his arrival in the country coincides with his party's return to office and a backroom deal could allow him to escape a full sentence.
Hours after his return, Srettha Thavisin from Thaksin's Pheu Thai party, secured enough support to become prime minister in a high-stakes parliamentary vote. He will form a government with promonarchy military-backed parties associated with the former generals who led the 2014 coup.
The young, reformist Move Forward party promised to remove the military from politics and amend the country's severe lese-majesty law after winning an election in May, but it was blocked from forming a government by military-appointed senators.
Thaksin arrived in Bangkok yesterday morning, placing a flower wreath and prostrating himself before a portrait of Thailand's king and queen at the gate of the airport terminal. He wore a suit with a yellow lapel pin bearing a royal insignia and appeared only briefly in front of the media, accompanied by his three children, before being driven to court and prison.
Behind fencing outside the airport, crowds of mostly older supporters, unable to see Thaksin, cheered and shouted: "We love Thaksin." One supporter, hearing the news he had arrived, said: "Our dream has come true." Many had travelled overnight on long journeys, sharing vans with relatives and neighbours, so they could witness his return.
This story is from the August 23, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the August 23, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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