Despite backing from Pheu Thai heavyweights, narrow margin does n’t bode well
Social observers believe that the ruling group is having a difficult time expanding its aid center following a small victory by the Pheu Thai-backed candidate in the May 30 local election in Pathum Thani.
Charn Phuangphet, a Pheu Thai Party candidate, won the election for Provincial Administrative Organisation ( PAO ) chairman in Pathum Thani with 203, 032 votes, defeating his main opponent, Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Toopkrajang, who ran under the Khon Rak Pathum ( Love Pathum ) group banner, by only 1, 820 votes.
The thin margin, according to Stithorn Thananithichot, chairman of the King Prajadhipok Institute’s Office of Innovation for Democracy, suggested either Mr. Charn nor Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit could render important tides.
Although Mr Charn won the contest, the adjacent competition means that the Pheu Thai Party, despite mobilising all resources to help with Mr Charn’s battle, is struggling to enhance its base in this northern state, he said.
Pheu Thai is believed to possess attached significance to this PAO vote, considering the level of support Pheu Thai head Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her stepson, Panthongtae, lent to Mr Charn’s election campaign.
Their dad, Thaksin, even went to the state and called on the red tops, who make up the core of Pheu Thai’s enthusiasts, to strengthen and march behind the group.
Pheu Thai is alleged to have benefited from the help of its candidate as the province’s ruling party.
The election results, in the opinion of Mr. Stithorn, show that Thaksin’s political influence is also substantial and that the Pheu Thai Party can also defeat its political rivals in upcoming elections.
” But the party ca n’t sit back and relax because Mr. Charn could n’t win a decisive victory.” Otherwise, the group may work hard to win public assistance”, he said.
Mr. Stithorn claimed that Bhumjaithai and the Move Forward Party ( MFP ) had kept their distance from the PAO contest because they had no idea how Pol Lt. Gen. Kamronwit and Thaksin would interact.
Mr. Stithorn claimed that Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit failed to win re-election, perhaps because the two political parties were reluctant to support him and the locals were unimpressed by his achievement.
Bhumjaithai, one of the members of the Pheu- Mai- led coalition government stayed apart from Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit’s plan to pacify Pheu Thai, while the MFP, on the other hand, doubted Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit’s independence, according to Mr Stithorn.
The PAO culture clearly demonstrated Thaksin’s strong interest in local and regional elections, according to Jade Donavanik, the president of the Faculty of Law College of Asian Scholars.
He claimed that the PAO competition reminded him of the previous Bangkok government election in which Chadchart Sittipunt, one of the Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial prospects for the presidency in the 2019 general vote, ran as an independent candidate.
He claimed that despite him still being on parole and being indicted on a lese majeste charge, Thaksin was using the PAO contest to resuscitate the provincial’s Pheu Thai Party.