BANGKOK - Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday he was confident the party he backed in weekend elections could form a coalition government, unless prevented unfairly, allowing him to return from exile.
"If nobody interferes in the normal democratic process of forming a coalition government, everything will be completed accordingly," Thaksin told Reuters by telephone from Hong Kong in a clear reference to the military that ousted him in 2006.
"That will be the first step toward national reconciliation," he said.
He insisted he would not return to politics after the general election proved Thailand was still polarised between his urban and military enemies and his rural faithful.
The latest tally from the Election Commission showed the People Power Party, the reincarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party dissolved after the bloodless coup for election fraud, won 233 of the 480 seats in parliament.
The military said it would do nothing to prevent the PPP trying to put a coalition together despite a widespread belief it would do all it could to prevent that after a vote which effectively condemned the coup.
"We have nothing to worry about and will accept it," Armed Forces Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niumpradit said.
"We just have to let politicians do their job. The CNS won't get involved," he told reporters, referring to the Council for National Security as the coup leaders call themselves.
However, political analysts point to many ways the generals can affect progress, from putting pressure on minor parties not to join the PPP to persuading the Election Commission they appointed to disqualify PPP winners.
"Indeed, it would be surprising if the generals and their allies accept the PPP-led government without a fight," analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak wrote in the Bangkok Post newspaper.
"A PPP-led coalition would be a frontal assault on the establishment, pitting the forces and interests of the majority of the electorate against those of a significant minority that includes Bangkok."
THAKSIN TO FIGHT CHARGES
