The Tamesis
February 6, 2026
Changlai – Chiang Rai street food vendor Benjaporn Maigate is tired of politicians using money to buy votes.
“People spend a lot of money to buy votes, but I believe everyone has to rely on themselves and not just wait for handouts,” the 55-year-old said, adding that what people really need are policies to reduce the cost of living, especially electricity and fuel costs.
“My family, even my mother who is in her 70s, refuse to be bought. If anyone tries to buy our votes, we will shut them out completely,” she told The Straits Times with a smile.
Similarly, Rungnapa Kongsui, a 47-year-old farmer from northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, said that while cash handouts are always attractive, the happiness they bring “only lasts a short period of time”.
“But if you provide sustainability or non-cash help, such as supporting careers, employment and (access to) markets, people will always remember that,” she said.
Many people in Thailand’s rural northern and northeastern provinces would once have been quick to welcome the government’s promise of quick handouts, but voters interviewed by ST ahead of the February 8 election are skeptical of such populist electoral measures.
On Sunday, nearly 53 million eligible voters across the country will choose their preferred member of parliament and their favorite party.
The north and northeast (better known as Isan in Thailand) have been important electoral battlegrounds. They include 29 provinces and account for 170 of the country’s 500 parliamentary seats up for grabs.
The two regions, which together have nearly 25 million eligible voters in this election, have traditionally been strongholds for the Pheu Thai party, which is linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But in recent elections, the party won fewer seats in both regions.
Political parties are often keen to attract voters in these areas by promising crop price guarantees, agricultural debt moratoriums and the development of agri-processing industries.
Farmer Saksayam Lakkan, 52, who worked in food production in South Korea before returning to his hometown of Ubon Ratchathani, doesn’t want empty promises. If the government “really promotes technology and educates a new generation of farmers, we can develop and live a better life,” he said.
On February 8, in addition to electing representatives, voters will decide whether to amend the country’s 2017 constitution, which was drawn up by the military junta led by former Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha after a 2014 coup.
The charter has long been criticized as entrenching unelected powers by allowing unelected upper house senators a say in approving laws and appointing judges to the Constitutional Court.
Even if the first referendum succeeds, two more will need to be held before a new charter can be enacted, which could take years.
“The repeated failures of past amendment efforts have led to a widespread belief that the current constitution is effectively unamendable, fueling public skepticism and political fatigue,” said Purawich Watanasukh, a political science lecturer at Thammasat University.
He added that this explained why the referendum’s “Vote Yes” campaign was not particularly strong or effective in terms of mobilization compared with other election issues.
One of the main contenders in the polls is the People’s Party, a young, progressive, liberal group of candidates and the incarnation of the now-defunct Future Forward and Forward parties.
Both were dissolved by the Constitutional Court – Future Forward over campaign finance irregularities in 2020, and Forward over a 2024 campaign to change laws on royal insults that could undermine the constitutional monarchy. Key leaders are banned from running in elections for 10 years.
Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the 38-year-old leading candidate for prime minister of the People’s Party, said he was determined to win this election again – the party won the most seats in the 2023 election.
On the campaign trail, when asked by The Straits Times how his party’s fortunes would be different this time, he said: “This is the first time we don’t have the senatorial power to vote for the prime minister. So this time, I urge all Thai people to believe in their ability to vote for the PPP.”
In the 2023 general election, the party, then Kadima, won the most parliamentary seats in the lower house, but its candidate Pita Limjaroenrat failed to become prime minister because upper house senators refused to vote.
At the time, an appointing body of 250 senators in the House of Lords and 500 MPs in the House of Commons were given the constitutional power to vote for the prime minister. But that power expires when their five-year terms expire in 2024. The new batch of 200 senators in parliament today do not have the same special powers to vote for the prime minister.
The other main contender in the election is the Bhumjaithai Party, led by caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Mr Anutin, 59, succeeded Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister in September 2025 after the Constitutional Court removed her from office for ethical violations.
Mr Anutin, considered a royalist conservative, has also been seen in recent months as a defender of Thailand’s sovereignty over the undemarcated area between the two Cambodian countries.
Military conflict between the two countries has been suspended, but Mr Anutin has been fanning rising nationalist sentiment.
Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul (right), current caretaker prime minister and leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, at a rally in Ubon Ratchathani. Photo: The Straits Times
“About border issues? Don’t worry. About rice and cassava prices? They will definitely go up. About drugs and scammers? We will eradicate them completely,” he said at a rally in Ubon Ratchathani during the campaign to loud cheers and applause from a group of mainly elderly rural villagers.
He also linked addressing the economic plight of citizens to strengthening border security: “As long as we are responsible, prices will never fall because we dare to close our borders to protect our markets. I will build a wall for you and I guarantee you that they will not dare touch it.”
Dr Prawicz of Thammasat University said Boumjetai had “actively mobilized public sentiment and patriotic rhetoric to increase his popularity and consolidate support”.
He noted that Bhumjaitai “framed the election in clear moral and emotional terms and campaigned on a narrative that divided voters into those who “loved country” and those who did not.
Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University, warned that Bhumjaithai was playing a dangerous game because rising nationalist sentiment would not be good for Thailand in the long run.
“Because we cannot deny that in order to be connected to the region, we still have to be connected to Cambodia,” he added.
For Pheu Pheu Thai, the Thai-Cambodian conflict was barely mentioned during the campaign.
That’s because it was the issue that led to the downfall of Mr Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister. In a leaked phone conversation with Cambodia’s de facto leader Hun Sen, she was heard criticizing one of her army commanders and appearing conciliatory due to the two families’ past closeness.
But her behavior angered many and she was fired in August 2025 for ethical violations.
Wethai has promoted populist policies such as creating new millionaires every day through a lottery that rewards nine people with 1 million baht (S$40,176) each, and providing income supplements for those earning less than US$1,140 (S$1,451) a year.
Mr Thaksin’s nephew Yodchanan Wongsawat, 46, a biomedical engineering professor and the party’s top candidate for prime minister, told a rally crowd in Bangkok how his team planned to develop Thailand.
“By harnessing innovation, we can become a leading nation on the world stage. I am ready to serve as your 33rd Prime Minister, a leader who will put science and technology at the forefront of our country’s development.”
Mr Yodchanan Wongsawat, Pheu Thai’s chief prime ministerial candidate, has links to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The 46-year-old is a professor of biomedical engineering and Thaksin’s nephew. Photo: The Straits Times
No matter who wins the election this time, 44-year-old third-generation business owner Pakpoom Phonpisit hopes the new government can start work as soon as possible.
He said: “Campaign policies tend to prioritize populist demands which are often unrealistic in reality. As the private sector, our expectation is simply a government that operates with integrity – a government that is free of corruption and favoritism towards any particular group – so that the country can move forward effectively.”
