Thai ex-PM Thaksin to return from exile Tuesday, daughter says

BANGKOK - Thailand's self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plans to return to the country on Tuesday (Aug 22), his daughter said on Saturday, amid prolonged political uncertainty after a May national election.

"On Tuesday, Aug 22, at 0900, at Don Muang Airport, I will meet father Thaksin," Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in a social media post, referring to an airport in the capital Bangkok.

Thaksin had previously planned to return on Aug 10 but postponed, citing the need for a medical checkup.

The former telecommunications tycoon, premier from 2001 until he was ousted in a 2006 coup, lives in self-imposed exile after fleeing Thailand to avoid a jail sentence for graft in 2008. He would still be subject to jail upon a return.

Also scheduled for Tuesday is another parliamentary vote for prime minister, to be nominated by the Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai Party.

The second-placed Pheu Thai this month took over efforts to form a government after the leader of the election-winning Move Forward party failed in his bid to become prime minister.

Pheu Thai, set to nominate real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin, needs the support of more than half the bicameral legislature, including the military-appointed Senate.

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