Thai PM Prayuth faces test as 'fed-up' Bangkok residents set to elect governor amid economic woes

On a visit to the Thai capital's biggest slum last weekend, Bangkok's leading governor candidate Chadchart Sittipunt assured residents in the Khlong Toei district it would not be the last time they could meet him, after some people said governors rarely visited the area in the past.

The independent contender has been known as a down-to-earth, accessible politician since he served as Thailand's transport minister in the Yingluck Shinawatra cabinet from 2012 to 2014, overseeing the high-speed rail plan that later collapsed when the military seized power.

During his tenure, Chadchart often travelled with little or no entourage on public transport, including motorbike taxis. In 2013, he asked senior transport officials to ride the bus to work at least once a week and report back on how to improve services. Chadchart, 55, is also a fitness enthusiast and in recent months, he has campaigned by running and cycling in many Bangkok communities to meet and hear from people.

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All signs suggest a win for Chadchart on May 22, when Bangkok residents will vote for their city leader for the first time since 2013. The former engineering professor has led every opinion poll by a clear margin in recent weeks.

The last elected Bangkok governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, was removed from office in 2016 by coup leader and current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who then installed former metropolitan police chief Aswin Kwanmuang in the position. Aswin is himself seeking to win the election, which has been viewed as a test for Prayuth's premiership as economic hardship hits the government's popularity.

Bangkok and the resort town of Pattaya are the only administrative areas in Thailand where residents are eligible to elect their governor and mayor, respectively.

The new Bangkok governor will manage an expanding city that is home to 15 million people by some estimates. High costs of living and economic opportunities have been the highlight of the campaign, after many pandemic-hit businesses had to close for good.

Since Thailand's partial reopening in the middle of 2021, Bangkok is being recognised as a tourism hub again. Last September, Bangkok was voted the best "workation" city in a global survey by Germany-based holiday search engine company Holidu. In December, expatriates rated Bangkok fourth on the list of top Asian cities - behind Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City - in the Expat City Ranking 2021. In March this year, the city was voted Best City by readers of the DestinAsian magazine.

But despite the accolades, old problems persist. "We want someone who is professional with a modern thinking," said former senator Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, who has been working at an NGO in Khlong Toei for the past five decades.

"Bangkok residents want to feel like this is their city again," she said. "It has been difficult in the past years to make requests or suggestions about our city."

More than a dozen candidates are running this year, with campaigns highlighting issues such as traffic jams, flood prevention, accessible and affordable public buses, green space, air quality, trash management and political transparency.

Aside from Aswin and Chadchart, other major candidates include Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, a former MP from the progressive Move Forward Party, and Suchatvee Suwansawat, a former professor of civil engineering and a candidate from the government coalition member the Democrat Party.

Their platforms include turning Bangkok into a place that is equal and inclusive, with infrastructure that will improve quality of life and help with the rising costs of living.

An issue that compounds these elements is the decades-long, contentious face-off between the Bangkok government and street food vendors.

While street food culture has helped to place Bangkok on the map, created income for many workers and allowed ordinary folks to save money on food, the stalls have blocked and broken the city's footpaths and produced trash.

For years, the city government has imposed bans on street food on certain streets and on certain days of week to alleviate the problem, but a lasting solution has never been reached.

Former MP Wiroj said that as Bangkok had failed to provide spaces for vendors to run their businesses, bribery has been rampant as vendors prefer to remain where there's a customer base. His plan was to ask office buildings in Bangkok to accommodate the vendors so as to move them indoors like in Singapore, he said.

Aswin said the key was to strike a balance between vendors and customers. He estimated there were around 200,000 vendors and three million street food customers in Bangkok. He said communities should decide how to manage a number of street food stalls in their areas.

The Democrat Party's Suchatvee, meanwhile, criticised the city's partial bans on street food vendors, particularly in cultural areas. He vowed to lift those bans to revive the economy and maintain community character.

Frontrunner Chadchart's major policy is to create a 1,000-kilometre footpath that is clean and tree-lined, and move street food vendors to dedicated spaces. Freeing up the footpaths would raise Bangkok's urban safety standards and offer residents more equality and business opportunities, he said.

Political-science academic Thamrongsak Petchlertanan says the Bangkok election will decide Prayuth's legitimacy for next year's national election.

Unlike the general election in 2019 that saw Prayuth reappointed as prime minister, the Bangkok governor election will be free from constitutional rules such as the one which allowed an appointed senate to vote Prayuth back to power.

Thamrongsak said as the candidates came from both the pro-democracy and government-aligned camps - with Chadchart and Wiroj being pro-democracy, and Suchatvee and Aswin being pro-government - economic policies would be the focus as "people are currently very fed-up with Prayuth's economic performance".

Another factor includes the age of the voting population, the analyst said.

"There are currently 4.37 million eligible voters in Bangkok with around 600,000-700,000 first-timers, so Generation Z will certainly support the democracy camp," Thamrongsak said.

"There has been a perception that the Bangkok upper- and middle-class supported the coup in 2014, but Bangkok has been silenced for nine years. This election will be a test whether this is true."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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