Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand after 15 years in self-exile

bangkok (Best Hindu News): Thailand’s ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the country on Tuesday for the first time after more than 15 years in self-exile amid political turmoil.

Thaksin, 74, was in office from 2001 until he was ousted in a military coup in 2006, reports CNN.

He moved out of the country in 2008. He is accused of corruption.

Thaksin arrived at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport at 9 a.m. on Tuesday by a private jet.

About 90 minutes later, he exited the airport’s private jet terminal, greeted a crowd of supporters and bowed before a portrait of Thailand’s king. The video shows Thaksin hugging his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, who lives in self-exile, before boarding a plane to Singapore.

Yingluck was elected as Thailand’s first female prime minister in 2011, but was dismissed in 2014 after the Constitutional Court ruled she had abused her position.

Thaksin’s long-awaited arrival comes on the same day that parliament is voting to elect a new prime minister, reports CNN.

The Thaksin-backed Phu Thai party, which came second in May’s election, will nominate real estate mogul Shretha Thavisin as the next prime minister on Tuesday.

On Monday, Phu Thai struck a deal with his former military rivals to secure enough parliamentary votes to form a government.

In 2014, former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha seized power from the Phu Thai government and Yingluck followed Thaksin into self-exile.

Prayut, who has ruled Thailand since then, announced in July that he would not run for re-election and would retire from politics.