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Thailand’s Thaksin will return from exile on August 10, says daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra

  • The 74-year-old is a bogeyman for Thailand’s pro-military and royalist establishment and his return could inflame an already tense political situation
  • Twice elected PM but ousted by a military coup in 2006, Thaksin has long spoken of his wish to come home – but faces multiple criminal charges

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Thailand’s self-exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra pictured in Hong Kong  in 2019. Photo: AFP
Thailand’s billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will return to the kingdom on August 10 after 15 years in self-exile, his daughter said on Wednesday.
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The 74-year-old tycoon, twice elected prime minister but ousted by a military coup in 2006, has long spoken of his wish to come home, but faces multiple criminal charges – which he says are politically motivated.

Thaksin is a bogeyman for Thailand’s pro-military and royalist establishment and his return could inflame an already tense political situation.
The kingdom is in political deadlock after the military-dominated Senate blocked the head of the Move Forward Party from becoming prime minister after the reformist party won May’s elections.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra pictured at a political rally in May. She shared the news about her father’s return from exile on Wednesday, Thaksin’s birthday. Photo: Reuters
Paetongtarn Shinawatra pictured at a political rally in May. She shared the news about her father’s return from exile on Wednesday, Thaksin’s birthday. Photo: Reuters

“I can’t believe what I am about to write. Dad is coming back on Aug 10 at Don Meung airport,” his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra wrote on her official Facebook page on Wednesday – Thaksin’s birthday.

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