BANGKOK - THE unexpected return to Thailand of the former wife of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra is not politically motivated, her spokesman said on Saturday amid continuing turmoil in the country.

Pojaman, travelling under her maiden name 'Damapong', returned to Bangkok with her son and daughter from Hong Kong on Friday after fleeing the kingdom in August following her three-year jail sentence for tax evasion.

Local media on Saturday speculated her return was linked to the formation of a new government, after the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was disbanded by a court decision on Tuesday that also ousted premier Somchai Wongsawat - Thaksin's brother-in-law.

But her spokesman, Mr Phonthep Thepkanjana, said: 'Her return has nothing to do with politics.' 'As far as I know she came back to take care of her mother who will undergo an operation soon,' he added.

He said Pojaman would await a ruling from the appeals court on her tax evasion case. Pojaman, her brother and secretary were convicted in July of tax evasion and released on bail pending appeal.

'The case is in the appeals process... so she will not have to do anything but wait for the verdict,' Mr Phonthep said.

Last month, Pojaman, 52, and Thaksin, 59, divorced after 32 years of marriage, with family friends claiming they remained close and it was a 'divorce on paper' for practical or economic reasons.

The couple had been living in exile since August to avoid jail sentences in their homeland but last month had their British visas cancelled, leaving them searching for a new refuge.

Former PPP members were at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport to greet Pojaman before she was whisked away through a private exit on Friday.

A new party, Pheu Thai, set up to regroup MPs from the PPP, which is filled with Thaksin's allies, is due to elect a party leader on Sunday.

But the interim government has cancelled a parliamentary session set for Monday to choose a new prime minister, as uncertainty continues to cloud Thailand's political future.

The country has been rocked by months of protests aimed at toppling Somchai and his government by demonstrators who say the administration is a corrupt puppet of Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in September 2006.

This week's constitutional court ruling provided a face-saving way for the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to abandon an eight-day blockade of Suvarnabhumi airport that forced its closure and grounded an estimated 350,000 travellers.

The airport resumed full operations on Friday.

The protesters, who also blocked Bangkok's smaller Don Meaung airport for a week, draw their support mostly from Thailand's old power elite in the Thai palace, military and bureaucracy.

The PAD has warned that it will resume protests if the new prime minister is too close to Thaksin.

They say they are fighting to protect Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who celebrated his 81st birthday on Friday, but cancelled his annual national address because of a sore throat and fever, the royal household said.

In October former policeman Thaksin, still loved by millions of Thais, particularly among the rural poor, was sentenced to two years in prison in absentia for corruption and is now living in exile in an unknown location.

Thaksin, who was in power from 2001 until the 2006 coup, has since told an Arabian business magazine he plans to return to Thai politics. -- AFP