Thaksin Shinawatra: divisive ex-PM looms over Thai politics

A supporter stands outside Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family compound after he arrives from a police hospital after being granted parole, in Bangkok on Feb 18, 2024. - Reuters

BANGKOK: He was ousted in a coup more than 17 years ago and spent 15 of them in self-imposed exile, but even abroad Thailand's billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra cast a remarkable shadow over the kingdom's politics.

Loved and loathed in almost equal measure, the 74-year-old transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party enduring loyalty from the rural masses.