Bangkok. Srettha Thavisin from the populist Pheu Thai party secured enough votes in parliament to become the country’s 30th prime minister Tuesday, hours after former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned from years of self-imposed exile and began an eight-year prison sentence.

While the vote was not complete, Srettha had enough votes to win. The voting was suspended with about around 20 votes left to cast after someone collapsed on the floor of parliament.

A real estate tycoon, his apparent victory ends months of suspense, legal wrangling and horse trading that allowed the second-place election winner to form a government after the surprise winner, the Move Forward Party, was repeatedly rejected by conservative senators appointed by a previous military government.

Srettha will lead a coalition of 11 parties that includes two pro-military parties affiliated with outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Move Forward was excluded from the coalition. Critics called the new government a betrayal of the election results, but Pheu Thai leaders defended it as a necessity for ending the political deadlock and creating reconciliation.

At Pheu Thai party headquarters, supporters in red danced in celebration.

Pheu Thai excluded Move Forward, saying its stance on changing the royal defamation law had made it impossible to rally enough support from other parties and the Senate. Both houses of Parliament vote together for the prime minister under the military-implemented constitution, in an arrangement designed to protect conservative military-backed rule.

Pheu Thai said it would control eight Cabinet posts and nine deputy Cabinet posts. The military-backed parties — Palang Pracharath and United Thai Nation — are to receive two Cabinet posts and two deputy posts each. Pheu Thai has not identified the ministries that each party will control.

It said the coalition agreed to support Pheu Thai’s platform of boosting the economy, increasing the minimum wage and ending mandatory conscription. They will also support the continued legalization of medical marijuana and work to amend the constitution to make the country “become more democratic,” while not touching the royal defamation law, Pheu Thai said.

The parliamentary vote came hours after divisive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand after years of self-imposed exile to face criminal charges after being ousted in a 2006 military coup.

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