- Ex-leader’s return coincides with premier vote on Tuesday
- Political realignment touted as end of decades-old conflicts
Thaksin Shinawatra greets after landing at Bangkok's Don Mueang airport on Aug. 22.
Photographer: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
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 at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, with some chanting “We Love Thaksin!” and “Thaksin, Keep Fighting!”
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Thaksin Returns From Exile After Deal With Former Thai Enemies