Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole from Bangkok's Klong Prem Central Prison on Monday, emerging to crowds of hundreds of red-shirted supporters who chanted "We love Thaksin" as the 76-year-old billionaire walked out in a simple white shirt, his hair closely cropped. Hugging family members — including his daughter, former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra — and smiling broadly at the gathered crowd, Thaksin later told reporters from the window of his car outside his Bangkok home that he had been "in hibernation" for eight months and felt a sense of "relief." He will be required to wear an electronic ankle monitor for the remaining four months of his sentence.
Thaksin had served eight months of a one-year prison term for corruption and abuse of power relating to his time as prime minister between 2001 and 2006, when a military coup removed him from office while he was abroad. After 15 years in self-imposed exile, he returned to Thailand in 2023 to face an original eight-year sentence, which was commuted to one year by royal pardon. However, rather than serving time in prison, he was moved to a private hospital room on health grounds — a transfer that coincided with his Pheu Thai Party forming a new government and fuelled public suspicion of a backroom deal. The Supreme Court ruled last September that his hospital stay had been a deliberate arrangement involving unnecessary minor surgeries, and ordered that he serve the remaining sentence behind bars.
Thaksin has dominated Thai politics for a quarter-century. A self-made telecoms billionaire, his populist policies drew fierce loyalty from rural and working-class voters, while earning deep mistrust from Thailand's royalist and military establishment. His affiliated parties — Pheu Thai and its predecessor incarnations — were the country's most electorally successful of the 21st century, with the Shinawatra family producing four prime ministers. His daughter Paetongtarn, who became Thailand's youngest-ever prime minister in 2024, was herself dismissed by the Constitutional Court last August after a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen caused a political storm.
The political landscape Thaksin returns to is significantly altered. In February's general election, Pheu Thai recorded its worst-ever result, slipping to third place behind the reformist People's Party and the conservative Bhumjaithai party. The party has since become a junior partner in a coalition led by conservative Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Thaksin also faces additional pending criminal cases, which analysts say could constrain any public political activity.
Whether this marks the twilight of the "Thaksin era" remains hotly debated. Dedicated supporters travelled hundreds of kilometres to greet him at the prison gates, and some analysts believe his return will provide a short-term boost to Pheu Thai. Others are more sceptical. "You can never count Thaksin out," noted political analyst Ken Lohatepanont, "but the challenge he and his party face is of a different magnitude to those he has faced in the past." The deep mistrust between Thaksin and Thailand's conservative establishment, cemented by years of court rulings and coups, makes a prominent political comeback appear unlikely — even if the man himself has rarely been content to stay in the background.