Bangkok | Thailand’s fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday set foot on Thai soil for the first time since 2008, returning from self-exile to prison just hours before his allies contest a parliamentary vote in a bid to form a government.

Mr Thaksin, the billionaire figurehead of the populist juggernaut Pheu Thai Party, fled abroad 15 years ago, before he was sentenced to prison in absentia for abuse of power. This was two years after the military toppled him in a coup, alleging corruption and disloyalty to the powerful monarchy, which he denies.

Reuters