PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attended a birthday celebration for outgoing Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, in keeping with video posted on-line Sunday, a day after Thaksin mentioned he would delay plans to return to Thailand following years of self-imposed exile.
Thaksin’s look in Cambodia got here at a politically delicate time in neighboring Thailand, as Pheu Thai, the most recent in a string of events affiliated with Thaksin, is searching for to win sufficient help in Parliament for certainly one of its members to turn out to be the subsequent prime minister virtually three months after a basic election in Could.
Thaksin mentioned on Saturday on the platform X, previously referred to as Twitter, that he would delay a deliberate return to Thailand subsequent Thursday for “not than two weeks,” citing a health care provider’s appointment.
His daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who campaigned for prime minister with Pheu Thai within the newest election, had mentioned almost two weeks in the past her father would return to Thailand on Aug. 10.
Thailand has confronted an unexpectedly troublesome time in choosing a brand new prime minister after the progressive Transfer Ahead Get together, which seeks reforms in a number of areas, together with a controversial legislation that strictly forbids defamation of the royal household, emerged as a shock winner within the Could 14 polls. Transfer Ahead Get together chief Pita Limjaroenrat failed in an preliminary bid final month to have Parliament identify him the brand new prime minister.
Thaksin was elected Thailand’s prime minister in 2001 and simply reelected in 2005, however was ousted by a navy coup in 2006. He was accused of corruption and abuse of energy and of disrespecting the nation’s monarchy.
He fled Thailand in 2008 to flee a jail time period in a number of legal circumstances, which he decried as politically motivated, and nonetheless might be jailed for greater than a decade on his return.
A authorities led by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was additionally ousted by a navy coup in 2014. She additionally confronted legal prices and fled into exile.
Thaksin’s message on Saturday about his delayed return didn’t point out a visit to Cambodia, however a video posted on Hun Sen’s official TikTok account reveals Thaksin standing subsequent to Hun Sen, joined by Hun Sen’s members of the family, at a birthday celebration on the Cambodian chief’s residence on the outskirts of the capital.
Hun Sen, Asia’s longest-serving chief, turned 71 on Saturday.
Hun Sen posted multiple minute of video from the occasion and wrote: “This 12 months, my son, kids and grandchildren joined by elders and youthful ones, and my godbrother, gathered on my birthday at my dwelling.”
Yingluck was additionally seen within the video.
Thaksin and Hun Sen reportedly have a detailed relationship and regard one another as “godbrothers.” In 2009, Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as a Cambodian authorities adviser, however Thaksin quickly resigned the place.
On July 26, Hun Sen introduced that he’ll step down as prime minister on Aug. 22 and hand energy to his oldest son, Hun Manet, the nation’s military chief, after his ruling Cambodian Folks’s Get together received a landslide victory in July 23 elections.