VNExpress/Reuters-Aug 21
Thailand’s Pheu Thai Party will seek to form a new government with some of its biggest rivals in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, coinciding with the promise of a historic return from 17 years of exile by its fugitive figurehead Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand has been under a caretaker government since March and its new parliament has been deadlocked for weeks after anti-establishment election winners Move Forward were blocked by conservative lawmakers, leaving populist heavyweight Pheu Thai to lead a new effort. The winner of five elections over the past two decades, Pheu Thai, a political juggernaut founded by the billionaire Shinawatra family, has agreed a contentious alliance including two parties backed by a military that overthrew two of its governments in coups in 2006 and 2014. The lower house and military-appointed Senate must decide on Tuesday whether to endorse the prime ministerial nomination of Srettha Thavisin, a real estate tycoon who was thrust into politics just a few months ago. Almost certain to overshadow Tuesday’s vote will be the likely dramatic return of 74-year-old Thaksin, a former premier who is loved and loathed in equal measures in the Southeast Asian country. He fled abroad in 2008 to avoid a jail sentence for abuse of power, two years after the military toppled him alleging corruption and disloyalty to the monarchy. He is expected to be arrested upon his return and taken directly to the Supreme Court for a hearing then transferred to a prison, according to the national police commissioner. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/world/thailand-s-pheu-thai-launches-pm-bid-as-fugitive-figurehead-thaksin-eyes-return-4644426.html
