Thai parliament elects Srettha Thavisin as PM hours after Thaksin Shinawatra returns from exile
- In a parliamentary vote on Tuesday afternoon, Srettha passed the threshold of 375 votes needed to become premier and form the next government.
- Srettha’s endorsement by lawmakers promises to end a deadlock which has gripped the country since the May election
Property mogul Srettha Thavisin will be Thailand’s 30th prime minister after lawmakers on Tuesday voted him into office, in a day of high political drama which also saw former leader Thaksin Shinawatra return to the kingdom after a 15-year exile and whisked straight to jail to serve an eight-year sentence.
Srettha’s endorsement in parliament promises to end a deadlock which has gripped the country since the pro-democracy Move Forward Party won the May election and formed a coalition that included Pheu Thai, but was then blocked from power by the conservative establishment.
The events pushed Thailand’s most radical party into opposition and have led to a once-unthinkable alliance between the military and the Shinawatra political vehicle, Pheu Thai.
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Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra jailed for 8 years upon return from exile
In the parliamentary vote on Tuesday afternoon, Pheu Thai’s Srettha passed the threshold of 375 votes needed to become prime minister and form the next government.
Earlier in the day, 74-year-old Thaksin, beloved by the rural poor but reviled by the royalist establishment, arrived by private jet at the VIP terminal at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, landing to a carnival of red – the colour of his rural support base – as thousands massed to greet him.
The sentence covers three different cases heard in absentia for abuse of power and malfeasance, illegally ordering a state-run bank to issue a foreign loan, and illegally holding shares via nominees, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
