Crowds of supporters of Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra gathered at a Bangkok airport on Tuesday, ahead of his anticipated return to the country after more than 15 years in exile.
Thaksin was due to arrive at Don Muang Airport at 9am local time, according to his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who announced his planned return at the weekend.
Thaksin has frequently expressed his desire to return and wrote on social media on Monday that he sought permission “to return to live on the land of Thailand and breathe the same air” as his Thai brothers and sisters.
Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and has lived in exile to avoid legal charges that he says are politically motivated, including a conviction in absentia for corruption.
He has previously set dates for his return only to postpone, but on Tuesday, his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2014 and is also in exile, posted pictures online of Thaksin on a plane, writing: “the day I’ve been waiting for has arrived.
His anticipated arrival will come just hours before a crucial parliamentary vote to decide whether Srettha Thavisin, a candidate put forward by the Pheu Thai, the party associated with Thaksin, can take office as prime minister. If Srettha is successful, it could end three months of political gridlock.
Pheu Thai has formed a controversial coalition with its longstanding enemies, the military aligned parties, saying it was necessary in order to win enough support for Srettha to become prime minister.
The development has divided Thaksin’s supporters, angering many who say the party has abandoned its democratic principles. Others, however, remain overjoyed that Thaksin could be returning to the country.
By Monday evening, supporters had already begun gathering at the airport, dressed in red and hanging banners that read “Welcome People’s Prime Minister” and “PM Thaksin, the PM that stays in the people’s hearts forever”.
Sansuk Termsrisuk, 62, who spoke to the Guardian ahead of her journey from her home in Nakhon Ratchasima, said that she would bring chao kuay, a dessert consisting of black grass jelly in syrup to give to Thaksin as a welcome gift.
“This is the day I have been waiting for. When I talk about it I feel like I want to cry,” she said, adding that she believed that when Thaksin was in power, the economy was much better and she had everything she needed. She said that now the economy has deteriorated, it was hard for her to make a living as a vendor.
“I really want to see him, even if I only see his car that’s going to be enough for me,” she said.
Thaksin, a former policeman who became a telecoms tycoon before entering politics, first came to power in 2001 and went on to build a loyal voter base in rural areas of the north and northeast. His policies, such as a universal healthcare scheme, and a village fund programme to stimulate economic activity in rural areas, made a concrete difference to people’s lives, and for years he was unbeatable at the ballot box.
However, Thaksin was strongly opposed by the military-royalist establishment, which viewed him as corrupt, and accused him of exploiting the country for his own benefit and of seeking to upstage the monarchy.
A struggle between the two sides led to the military seizing power in a coup twice, while political parties associated with Thaksin were repeatedly dissolved, and prolonged street protests paralysed the capital Bangkok. A deadly crackdown on Thaksin’s supporters by the army in 2010 left more than 90 people dead.
For many of his supporters, it’s unthinkable that Pheu Thai could now join with military-linked rivals.
“What were we fighting for?” said activist Sombat Boonngam-anong, one of Thaksin’s supporters who protested in his name. He claims that by joining with the military side, Pheu Thai was undermining the ideology and values that its supporters believed in.
“What they are doing right now is violating the will of the people, it should not happen,” he said, adding that people had voted resoundingly against the military.
Dr Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate politics professor at Mahidol University, said the political deal was unprecedented given the gulf in ideologies between the two sides and would ruin Pheu Thai in the next elections.
Key figures from Pheu Thai had promised during election campaigning they would not do a deal with military generals in order to take power. They now say they must do so in order to gather enough support to ensure their candidate takes office.
Under election rules that were re-written after the 2014 military coup, Srettha must secure majority support from both the lower house of 500 elected MPs and the 250 senators – who are unelected and were appointed by the military – to become prime minister.
The military-aligned senate previously blocked reformist Move Forward’s leader Pita Limjaroenrat from becoming prime minister – creating an opportunity for Pheu Thai, which came second in the election, to try to reform a government.
Activist Sombat Boonngam-anong said he believed Thaksin’s return was part of the political deal. He said he sympathised with Thaksin and his desire to return home, but added that “if you consider the damage to the country, [this deal] is not worth it.”
Paetongtarn has said that Thaksin’s return home is not related to Pheu Thai, and that it is his own personal decision.
