PATHUM THANI: The election of the president of the Pathum Thani provincial administrative organisation (PAO) took place on Sunday, and observers expected the vote to give an indication of the popularity of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the ruling Pheu Thai Party that his daughter leads.
Two of the main candidates are former Pathum Thani PAO president Chan Puangpetch and his successor Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Toopkrajang.
Mr Chan was Pathum Thani PAO president three times until 2020, when he was defeated by Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit, a former Bangkok police commissioner who at that time obtained support from Pheu Thai.
Mr Chan – who now receives support from Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party led by Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn – cast his ballot at Watpangiw School in Sam Khok district on Sunday morning. He arrived together with his three daughters.
Meanwhile, Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit exercised his voting right at another polling unit at a public park in Thanyaburi district.
There are 949,415 eligible voters in Pathum Thani and the vote result was expected on Sunday night.
Political observers noted that Thaksin and Pheu Thai figures appeared in Pathum Thani ahead of the PAO election in order to campaign for Pheu Thai. The descendant of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party lost most House seats in the province to the Move Forward Party (MFP) in the May 14, 2023 general election.
MFP won the election but was blocked by the junta-appointed Senate from taking power, leading to a Pheu Thai-led coalition government with parties aligned with the military.
However, opinion surveys show that more respondents now support MFP and its key figure to lead the government and have the prime minister's seat than at the last election. Meanwhile, the popularity of Pheu Thai and its prime ministerial candidates has been left far behind.