TOKYO -- Thailand will hold a general election on May 14 after eight years of military-dominated governments. The opposition Pheu Thai Party, founded in 2007 as a successor to Thaksin Shinawatra's strongly supported Thai Rak Thai Party, is tipped by many to win a majority in the 500-seat House of Representatives. Thaksin was thrown out of power by the military in 2006, and since 2008 has lived in exile in Dubai to escape criminal convictions in Thailand.
With his political fortunes once more seemingly ascendent, Thaksin sat down for an interview at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo with Nikkei Asia. The feisty political exile was upbeat about Pheu Thai's prospects, and about handing on the political baton to his youngest daughter, but did admit to feeling his years.
