Topic
- Critics are concerned that conflict could ensue if Thaksin remains ‘above the law’ amid mounting speculation of his return to politics
- Last year’s poll appears to show Thailand is moving away from old-style populism associated with Thaksin and his family
Thaksin has been in hospital detention since August, after making a dramatic homecoming from living abroad for 15 years in self-exile to avoid prison for a conflict of interest.
Thailand has some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence.
Thaksin, whose eight-year jail sentence was commuted to a year following a royal pardon, qualifies for release on parole next month due to his age and health.
Thailand PM Srettha Thavisin says Thaksin Shinawatra can play a role in the government, and that it would be ‘unwise’ of him not to seek the ex-premier’s opinion.
Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand last week after 15 years of self-imposed exile and was immediately sent to prison, but was transferred to a hospital just hours after he began serving an eight-year sentence.
Just a day earlier the former prime minister had said he would delay plans to return to Thailand following years of self-imposed exile.
The 74-year-old former PM is a bogeyman for Thailand’s pro-military and royalist establishment and his return could inflame an already tense political situation.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra said her new baby boy wouldn’t affect her ability to rally support for her Pheu Thai Party with just under two weeks to go before the polls.
The birth of Thasin comes two week’s ahead of Thailand’s May 14 elections, in which Paetongtarn ‘Ung-Ing’ Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party is expected to win the most lower-house seats.
Paetongtarn faces challenges from the pro-military camp backing incumbent PM Prayuth on the right and the youth-centric Move Forward Party on the left.
Polls are expected to highlight long-running political battle between conservative pro-military establishment and billionaire Shinawatra family.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra is emerging as the candidate to beat in elections expected by May. She is far ahead in the opinion polls, with twice the support of incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra says she’s confident of a landslide election win for her party and is ‘100 per cent ready’ to be a nominee for prime minister.
Pheu Thai has said it’s aiming for a ‘landslide’ win in a general election expected early next year, as it seeks to end nearly a decade of military-backed rule.
Will he stay or will he go? Thailand’s Constitutional Court is set to rule on former junta chief Prayuth’s fate – but that could take months, and the suspended prime minister has other options in the meantime.
Thaksin Shinawatra, from his base in Dubai, has raised the redshirt members from their dormancy, calling on supporters to vote strategically next year to give the Pheu Thai Party a landslide win and effectively end Prayuth Chan-ocha’s eight-year tenure.
Thaksin Shinawatra’s supporters, mostly from Thailand’s working class, were known as ‘red shirts’, but he was despised by Bangkok elites and the powerful military.
The finance ministry had sought compensation in 2016 for a money-losing rice farming subsidy programme launched by the former prime minister’s administration.
Six weeks since the country’s young pro-democracy movement demanded reform, the government seems uncertain of its next step as it considers the ramifications of yet another brutal crackdown.
The gunman – a former police officer – and two lawyers were killed, one of whom had represented ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2017.
With a Serbian passport, she can travel without a visa to more than 100 countries, including most members of the EU.
Vote ensures Prayuth’s transition from leader of the 2014 coup and the ruling junta to a prime minister endorsed by an elected parliament.
The family, led by self-exiled patriarch and deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will be in the city for the wedding of his youngest daughter.
As Thailand embraces democracy and heads to the polls, here are the royal family members, army generals and exiled politicians who could influence the vote
The monarch’s veto of his sister’s bid to become prime minister is a sign of who holds the cards in Thai politics.
Thaksin’s alliance with the princess appeared designed to challenge junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha
As candidates prepare for the March 24 polls, even the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Chart Party is struggling to keep up with new campaign rules put in place by the junta-influenced Electoral Commission
