Lawmakers in Thailand passed a bill this month that might let former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra go home.

His big social spending programs were popular with poorer voters while he was in power. Not so much, though, with the Thai army, which ousted him in a coup in 2006.

Two years ago, a new prime minister took over. Shinawatra’s sister Yingluck, who took up those populist polices once again.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok.