Besides Skype, Mr. Thaksin uses various social media applications, including WhatsApp and Line, to keep in touch with the leaders of the party, senior party members say.

Many of the Skype sessions are reported in the Thai news media. This month, Mr. Thaksin had a video chat to discuss coming elections for governor in Bangkok. The one-hour video chat made news because party officials reported that Mr. Thaksin had told his colleagues that it did not matter whom they nominated because even a utility pole would defeat the opposition.

Mr. Thaksin remains a divisive figure. He retains a large and passionate following, especially among people in the Thai hinterland whom he championed as prime minister. His critics among the urban elite are equally adamant. They are still fearful that he and his party will upset the status quo that benefits them, but also angered by what they call his penchant for mixing the affairs of state with the expansion of his business empire and by his domineering personality.

But with Thailand’s economy doing well despite the global slump and its vaunted tourism industry doing even better than before the unrest, critics have been less able to drag anyone to the streets — even as they acknowledge that the man they long tried to drive from power is ruling from afar.

Mr. Thaksin’s political revival also fits in some ways with politics in Thailand, which can be difficult to explain to outsiders because it sometimes sounds too implausible to be true. The general who led the 2006 coup that deposed Mr. Thaksin is now a member of Parliament and chairman of the reconciliation committee. And the country’s former “sauna king,” who made a fortune operating illegal massage parlors is now an anticorruption crusader who regularly exposes illegal gambling dens.

The paradox for Thailand today is that despite its current odd governing arrangement, the country is enjoying what Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University and one of the country’s leading political thinkers, calls “a kind of uneasy accommodation.”

“There are two ways you can look at this: you can make it into a farce, a ridiculous situation and the butt of a lot of jokes. The brother is pressing the buttons and the sister is a puppet,” Mr. Thitinan said in an interview. “But I’m beginning to take a slightly different view. This may be the best way to run Thailand.”