Thai ex-PM Thaksin says postponing return from self-exile

FILE PHOTO: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra looks on as he speaks to Reuters during an interview in Singapore February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday he was postponing his return from self-exile as Thailand struggles to overcome a political deadlock after the general election in May was won by opponents of military-backed parties.

Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon who became prime minister in 2001 and ousted by the military in 2006, has towered over Thailand's politics despite having lived in self-imposed exile since 2008 to avoid graft convictions which he said were politically motivated after his government were ousted in a 2006 coup.