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BANGKOK - Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has quit politics four months after he was ousted in a bloodless coup, his lawyer has said.
"He has conveyed his message from Hong Kong that he no longer wants to be involved in politics," lawyer Noppadon Patama told reporters on Wednesday local time.
"He will not run for the next general election because he doesn't have any more political ambition to be the prime minister again."
But Noppadon said Thaksin would remain a member of the party he founded, Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais), which faces disbandment on electoral fraud charges.
The coup leaders have said repeatedly they do not want Thaksin to return home anytime soon, fearing his presence could bring his supporters into the streets.
But Noppadon said Thaksin, who won elections on the back of massive rural support but accused by the military of rampant corruption which fed the street protests last year, would not come home anytime soon.
"His return must not be a cause for an unrest," Noppadon said.
- REUTERS
