Pheu Thai Party's prime ministerial candidate Paetongtarn "Ung Ing" Shinawatra said Thaksin, her father and former prime minister, looks set to return to Thailand in July, but the exact date is not yet known.
"I don't know the exact date yet. He (Thaksin) said it would be next month (July)," Ms Paetongtarn said on Sunday, in responding to questions from reporters.
Thaksin, who lives in exile in Dubai, had said he would return home in July, citing his old age and the desire to be with his grandchildren.
Asked whether she planned to go to Dubai to accompany her father back home, she said: "As a daughter, I would like to do that so we could come back together. I am very excited. But this is not yet definite. I would tell you when I know for sure."
Asked again whether Thaksin would definitely return in July, Ms Paetongtarn said: "I respect my dad's decision. So, whatever it is, I give him my full moral support."
When asked about the matter, Chaithawat Tulathon, the Move Forward Party secretary-general, said it was Thaksin's own decision. If he returns, he has the right to enter a normal legal process.
Asked about Move Forward's plan to be propose a draft bill to pardon people indicted in political cases, Mr Chaithawat said this had nothing to do with Thaksin's plan to return. The legislation would be intended for people who had been indicted in political cases, not corruption or criminal ones, he added.
Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup on 19 Sept, 2006. He has since lived in self-imposed exile except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008.
During his absence from the country, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced him in absentia to a total of 12 years imprisonment in four cases.
In the first case, the court found him guilty of abuse of power in his wife Khunying Potjaman's purchase of a state-owned plot in Ratchadapisek area at a price far below the market value. In October 2008, he was sentenced to two years in prison. However, the 10-year statute of limitations for the court ruling expired in October 2018.
In the second case, Thaksin was sentenced to two years in prison after he was found guilty of malfeasance in a case concerning the two- and three-digit lottery.
In the third case, Thaksin was handed down three years in jail for abusing his position by authorising loans totaling 4 billion baht to Myanmar via the Export-Import Bank of Thailand. The loans were then spent on buying supplies from a telecom firm owned by his family.
In the fourth case, the former prime minister was given five years in prison when the court found him guilty of using nominees to hold shares in Shin Corp. The law prohibits any political office holder from owning shares in a telecommunications company.
The statutes of limitations for the court decisions on the second, third and fourth cases have not expired.
