Shinawatra shuffle: acquittal latest twist for Thai ex-PM

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's former prime minister, centre, leaves the Criminal Court in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. Former Thai leader Thaksin was cleared of royal defamation charges, a major reprieve for the politician whose family-backed parties have strongly influenced the nation’s politics for more than two decades. -Bloomberg

BANGKOK: Loved and loathed in almost equal measure, Thaksin Shinawatra transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party loyalty from the rural masses.

But that success came at a cost: he and his family were despised by Thailand's powerful elites and a conservative establishment who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.