Thaksin’s return looms over vote

Divisive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to return to the kingdom from exile today, threatening fresh instability on the day parliament votes for a new prime minister after three months of political deadlock.

Thaksin, 74, is the most influential and controversial politician in recent Thai history, loathed by the pro-military and royalist elites but adored by many in rural areas whose lives were changed by his policies in the early 2000s.