With a cheerful “Sawasdeekrap na ka,” Nuttapong “Kung” Premphunsawad greets traders and market visitors at the Win Nam market near Bangkok’s international airport a week before the election on February 8th. The 31-year-old is running for the opposition People’s Party (PP). Happy smiles or even victory signs from people show that Premphunsawad and his PP are welcome.
In 2023 Premphunsawad was elected to parliament for the first time. His party at the time, Move Forward, emerged from the election as the strongest force, but was first prevented from taking over government by the elite and then dissolved by the Constitutional Court like its predecessor Future Forward. Leading members were banned from politics for ten years. The reason: The party, which is particularly popular among younger Thais, wants to carry out fundamental democratic reforms of state institutions. This explicitly includes the monarchy and the military and therefore the PP is the elite for the elite.
The government was then formed by the center-left Pheu Thai Party along with a number of more conservative parties. Pheu Thai of the Thaksin political clan is also on the elite’s hate list, but at least it does not undermine the strong position of the monarchy and the military.
The establishment then managed to get the Pheu Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin In 2024, after almost a year in office, he will be thrown out of office with the help of the Constitutional Court. Again a year later that sent Constitutional Court his successor Paetongtarn Shinawatra after an overly confidential telephone conversation with Cambodia’s gray eminence Hun Sen in the desert because of “ethical offenses”.
Prime Minister Anutin is playing the nationalist card in the border conflict
The conservative building contractor has been in business since September 2025 Anutin Charnvirakul from the powerful Bhumjaithai regional partynumber three in the 2023 election, with the toleration of the PP as Prime Minister of a minority government. Condition of the PP: dissolution of parliament within four months and a referendum on a new constitution.
But then Thailand delivered one in October and December military border conflict with Cambodiawhich almost escalated into a veritable war. In December, Anutin forestalled a motion of no confidence from the PP by dissolving parliament.
Polls again point to a victory for the PP. But the crucial question will be whether the PP will come close to an absolute majority of 500 seats in order to increase its chances of asserting itself against the conservative elite. “This will do everything in its power to dissolve the PP again through legal tricks and to decapitate its leadership through political bans,” says Phil Robertson, a Bangkok-based consultant for the human rights organization Human Rights Watch and its former regional director. The politically and economically dominant feudal family clans supported Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai, he says.
Actually, Thailand’s massive economic problems should be the most important election issue. But Bhumjaithai is playing the nationalist card against the backdrop of the unresolved conflict with Cambodia stylized the election as a race between “those who love the country and those who don’t.” Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the PP’s top candidate, replied firmly: “For me, love of country means loving people.”
The PP candidate Nuttapong Premphunsawad comes from nearby of Win Nam Market, a lower middle class neighborhood with a large Muslim population. “I’ve had a passion for solving problems since a young age,” he says with a laugh. He studied urban planning in order to help address Bangkok’s diverse urban challenges. That’s why he went into politics. “We are the party of the little people, not the rich and powerful. We are there for everyone.”
Parallel to the parliamentary elections on Sunday, voters will decide in a referendum whether Thailand should have a new constitution. If the vote is yes, a lengthy process will begin to draft the 21st Constitution since 1932.