Paroled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited the headquarters of the Pheu Thai Party on Tuesday afternoon amid denials by his daughter that he was still controlling the party.
Key Pheu Thai figures and MPs began assembling at the OAI Tower on New Phetchaburi Road in Bang Kapi district of Bangkok late Tuesday morning. Party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, arrived with Pheu Thai ministers at noon to prepare the reception.
Thaksin arrived at 1.15pm in a black Bentley with the Bangkok licence plate Por Khor 9999. As he exited his car, supporters shouting “We love Thaksin!” rushed forward to give him flowers. Some hugged him and kissed his cheeks and a few managed to get selfies taken with the man who founded the Thai Rak Thai Party 25 years ago.
Thaksin wore a blue shirt, jeans and a dark blue jacket. He was not wearing a neck or back brace as he had done when he visited Chiang Mai earlier this month.
“How are you? Thank you for welcoming me,” he shouted to the crowd of well-wishers.
Thaksin then entered the party headquarters, paid respects to a portrait of His Majesty the King and took an elevator to the eighth floor to meet Pheu Thai ministers, political position holders and MP candidates. Then he descended to the seventh floor to meet Pheu Thai MPs.
At 2.50pm, Ms Paetongtarn brought Thaksin to her party leader’s office. She told reporters that her father exerted no control over the party but was simply welcomed like a senior citizen who felt he was returning home.
“He is happy. I believe that many people are happy to see my dad, who founded the Thai Rak Thai Party,” she said, referring to the party that first won election in 2001 and later evolved into the People Power Party and then Pheu Thai.
The Pheu Thai leader said Thaksin would make more visits to party headquarters from time to time. She said she would invite him there in her capacity as his daughter, not as the Pheu Thai leader.
Asked again if Thaksin was influencing Pheu Thai, Ms Paetongtarn said he would only give advice.
Asked if Thaksin would visit the constituencies of Pheu Thai MPs to support them, Ms Paetongtarn said that if he did, it would not be to meet MPs but to be with local people because they would like to see him.
“People would like to meet my dad as the former prime minister who worked for them. Such meetings will not happen on behalf of the party,” she said.
Thaksin left the Pheu Thai headquarters at 3.16pm.
Pheu Thai won 141 House seats in the May 14, 2023, general election, 10 fewer than the Move Forward Party. However, the latter was unable to form a government and now leads the opposition after Pheu Thai cobbled together an 11-party coalition that includes the military-linked parties it used to oppose.
Last year’s election was the first in the history of Pheu Thai and its predecessors that it failed to win the most seats.
Thaksin, who will turn 75 in July, returned to the country on Aug 22 last year after 15 years of self-imposed exile. On the same day, he was brought to the Supreme Court, which sentenced him to eight years in jail — later reduced to one year under a royal pardon — for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while in office prior to 2006.
He was then taken to the Bangkok Remand Prison, but late that night corrections officials moved him to Police General Hospital, saying he needed specialist treatment for several serious conditions, including chest pain, hypertension and low blood oxygen.
On Feb 18, Thaksin reached the halfway point of his sentence and was paroled and discharged from the hospital. He never spent a single night behind bars.
According to judicial authorities, he met the criteria for parole because he is over 70 years old, was seriously ill and was considered to have served at least six months of his jail term.