The about-turn was a response to the growing clout of a younger pro-democracy party, Move Forward, which campaigned harder than Pheu Thai against military rule and advocated changes to a law forbidding criticism of the monarchy.
Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra and his family have dominated Thai elections for much of the past two decades. A royalist establishment long saw the clan as a threat to its political power, and Shinawatras were ejected from office twice in military coups.
In August, however, the bitter rivals buried their differences, Thaksin returned from self-imposed exile and the Pheu Thai party he backs joined with pro-military groups in a new coalition government.
