Thaksin Shinawatra

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Updated: Feb. 26, 2010

Thaksin Shinawatra is the former prime minister of Thailand. He became the nation's most powerful politician by presenting himself as a can-do chief executive, a prime minister who would run Thailand like a top-down business. He was ousted in a coup in 2006, but his allies were later elected to run the government.

Mr. Thaksin left the country after being convicted of conflict of interest in a land deal. But his political influence endures despite his self-imposed exile. Thai politics have become, in their simplest form, a struggle between pro- and anti-Thaksin forces. The political divisions also highlight the deeper divide over Thailand's constitutional monarchy.

In 2008, anti-Thaksin demonstrators blockaded airports in protests that turned violent at times. Wearing yellow to show support for the country's monarchy, they protested against a one-person-one-vote democracy, saying it was unworkable in a country with so many poorly educated citizens. They also volleyed accusations of corruption against Mr. Thaksin. At the end of that year, the pro-Thaksin faction lost control of electoral politics when a party loyal to him was abandoned by key allies.

In April 2009, opposition to the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva drew an estimated 30,000 demonstrators to his offices. Thaksin loyalists hoped that Thailand's financial woes, including accelerating layoffs in its vast industrial zones, would help them regain power. They also said that, while they support the monarchy, it should stay above politics.The protests led to mob violence that swept through Bangkok. Protest leaders eventually called off a demonstration when their supporters were surrounded by government troops. After weeks of blockading the prime minister's office and two days of rioting in which two people were killed and more than 100 were injured, the protesters streamed home peacefully, some in tears, with government officials offering conciliatory words.

As the protests ended, Mr. Thaksin echoed his rivals' calls for reconciliation, but his supporters refused to give up their struggle to topple Thailand's government.

In February 2010, the Supreme Court confiscated $1.4 billion in frozen assets from the fugitive former prime minister, after finding him guilty of illegally concealing his ownership of a family company and tailoring government policies on mobile phone regulations to benefit his businesses.

It ruled unanimously that he and his former wife, Pojaman, falsely claimed to have transferred their shares of his former telecommunications company, Shin Corp, to family members because he was not allowed to hold them while prime minister. It softened the blow, however, by allowing Mr. Thaksin to keep the remainder of his $2.3 billion in frozen assets.

The paradox of Mr. Thaksin’s political movement — that this billionaire telecommunications tycoon has inspired large swaths of poor, disaffected voters — was again on display at the headquarters of the main opposition party, where Mr. Thaksin’s followers gathered to hear the verdict.

It seems to be a given that Thailand’s acrimonious divide will not be resolved easily, or perhaps even peacefully. In a running blog on the court session, Thanon Khanthong, a columnist for The Nation daily newspaper, wrote: “The potential clash looks inevitable as any political compromise is out of the question.”