Former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, right, hugs his daughter, former Prime Minister Paetongtarn after he was released on parole from a Bangkok prison in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, May 11, 2026.AP Photo/Sakchai LalitThailand’s billionaire and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released from jail on Monday morning after serving eight months over corruption and abuse of power charges.Thaksin, 76, was granted parole. He will have to wear an electronic monitoring device and comply with certain parole conditions for the next four months until his term concludes on September 9, the Department of Probation said in a statement Monday.“This is not a surprise and the market did not really react to this factor," said Piriyapon Kongvanich, investment strategist at Bualuang Securities in Bangkok. "I think Thai politics at the moment is quite stable and do not anticipate any imminent threat to domestic political stability,” The benchmark Stock Exchange of Thailand Index ended Monday down 0.7% at 1,489.29 points. The veteran politician had been in jail since September last year after the Supreme Court ruled that he must serve one year in jail to complete a prison sentence handed down in 2023 over corruption and abuse of power charges.The court found that the former prime minister’s stay in a police hospital for a purported severe illness was unlawful, but the time was ultimately counted toward his prison sentence.In August 2025, the Constitutional Court dismissed his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as Prime Minister for ethical violations after just one year in office. Thaksin's youngest daughter is the third member of the Shinawatra family to be removed from office before finishing a term. Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck, was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2014 after three years in office on charges of abuse of power.MORE FOR YOUA general election was held in February and the Bhumjaithai Party—favored by conservative royalists and nationalists—won the election and formed a new coalition government with several political parties including Pheu Thai, linked closely with Thaksin. Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul has subsequently been elected the country’s Prime Minister. The party gained popularity among nationalists amid heightened tensions and military clashes at the Thai-Cambodia border in 2025.Thaksin—among the wealthiest in Thailand with a net worth of $1.6 billion—was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and spent over a decade in self-exile, primarily in Dubai. Upon his return in 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison but received a royal pardon that reduced his jail term to one year. He then spent six months in a hospital before being released on parole.