An unsuspected pact at the highest level has unlocked the anomalous Thai political situation, until further notice. After 15 years of exile, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra turned himself in yesterday at Bangkok's Don Mueang airport, in his private jet, to be jailed. Hours later, Parliament gave the green light to the investiture as prime minister of his party's candidate, property developer Srettha Thaivisin.
To place the first civilian in nine years at the head of a Thai government, Pheu Thai, the second most voted force in the May elections, has had to join an eleven-party coalition that leaves out the winners, Advance, while it integrates ultra-monarchical formations stuffed with generals.
Thaksin Shinawatra was received at the airport, coming from Singapore, by his three offspring, including his daughter Paethongtarn, who will not ultimately become the head of government, despite leading Pheu Thai. Before being taken to jail, Thaksin made a wreath and prostrated himself in front of an image of the current King Rama X.
The fugitive tycoon and politician was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison on corruption charges that his supporters consider politically motivated. A possible royal pardon could have convinced him to return.
Thaksin, extremely popular in the north and northeast of the country, as well as among the working classes of Bangkok, is the only civilian to have completed a term as prime minister, between 2001 and 2005. A year later, after winning overwhelmingly for the second time, he suffered a coup and, in 2008, he chose to leave the country, in an unbreathable climate between his supporters, the "red shirts", and the "yellow shirts" fed by the Bangkok elite.
His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, would win the election again a few years later, before suffering another coup.
The election of Thaivisin, the son of an officer and related to large Sino-Thai families, has triggered the price of his real estate. Pheu Thai is the latest reincarnation of the force inspired by Thaksin in the late 1990s.
Several "red shirts" had been waiting since dawn for the landing of their political idol for his redistributive policies. The movement is still licking its wounds after being swept from the streets in blood and fire in 2011.
Until a few months ago, it was unimaginable for the Bangkok establishment that the party remotely controlled by Thaksin could be a lesser evil, compared to Avanzar, a new political force that advocates the abolition of the crime of lèse majesté, for which hundreds of people have been imprisoned.
That and the refusal to agree with parties supervised by the army prevented its young leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, from being sworn in a few weeks ago. The support of Pheu Thai and others was not enough for him because among the 750 seats in the bicameral Parliament there are 250 senators handpicked by the military.
