Thaksin Backers Camp Out Awaiting Release of Jailed Ex-Thai PM

Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra is set to walk out of a Bangkok prison to the cheers of loyal supporters on Monday, returning to a political landscape transformed by the decisive victory of the rival conservative Bhumjaithai Party in February elections.

The 76-year-old patriarch of the Shinawatra clan is being paroled after serving eight months in prison for corruption. The Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party is in the ruling coalition, but its third-place electoral finish was a disappointment for a family whose various parties finished first in every vote from 2001 to 2019.