In the Thai general election held on the 8th (local time), the conservative Bhumjaithai Party led by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, 60, is expected to become the largest party, drawing greater attention to Anutin as his chances of another term grow.
According to Thai PBS and other local outlets on the 9th, with 92% of the votes counted, the Bhumjaithai Party is projected to take 194 of the 500 seats in the lower house. The progressive Pheu Thai Party, which had led major polls, secured only 116 seats. This is the first time since the 1996 general election that a conservative party backed by the monarchy and the military has emerged as the largest party in a Thai general election.
With the Kla Tham Party, which has been in alliance with Bhumjaithai in this election, also expected to secure 57 seats, the two parties together would surpass a majority with more than 251 seats. As a result, Anutin's second term is considered virtually assured. Bloomberg said, "Anutin is now set to lead a coalition government with a stable majority, which could help end the political turmoil that has shaken the Southeast Asian nation in recent years and dragged its economy into stagnation."
Prime Minister Anutin was born on Sept. 13, 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand. He is the eldest son of Chavarat Charnvirakul, an executive of Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (STECON), a major Thai construction company, and a politician. After majoring in engineering at Hofstra University in New York, he returned to Thailand and joined the management of the family corporations.
He entered politics in 1996, serving as an adviser to the Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Thai Rak Thai Party founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He later served as Vice Minister of Commerce in 2004 and Vice Minister of Public Health from 2004 to 2006. However, because he held party membership at the time of the 2006 military coup, he and fellow party lawmakers were banned from political activity for five years starting the following year.
Prime Minister Anutin returned to politics in 2012 and joined the Bhumjaithai Party. He was elected to parliament in 2019 and served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Public Health in the second cabinet of the Prayuth Chan-ocha government, leading the policy response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand, including lockdowns, vaccine procurement, and building treatment systems. In particular, he led the 2022 policy to legalize cannabis for medical purposes, earning the nickname "cannabis king."
He rose to prime minister last year while serving as Minister of Interior after then-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed. When Anutin was elected prime minister in September last year, Bhumjaithai was only the third-largest party in the lower house, but it secured support by pledging to accept conditions set by Pheu Thai, the largest party in the lower house, including dissolving parliament within four months of taking power and pursuing constitutional amendments. However, after a clash over control of parliament, the two parties split after three months, and as Anutin fell into a minority and faced a no-confidence crisis, he decided to dissolve the legislature.
Anutin made political use of Thailand's unstable external environment. Thailand has continued skirmishes along its borders, including an armed clash with Cambodia in July last year. In this process, Anutin took a hard line, saying, "If Cambodia fires one missile, Thailand will fire 100," and pledging to build a border barrier.
By contrast, Pheu Thai faced backlash after calling for the abolition of conscription and a reduction in the number of military generals. In a situation of ongoing border disputes with Cambodia, its relatively lukewarm response to security issues proved to be a weakness.
The New York Times (NYT) said, "The vote came just months after Thailand and Cambodia fought their bloodiest clashes in decades over a border dispute," and assessed the election outcome as "showing a shift toward a desire for continuity at a moment of external threats, moving away from the progressive movement that swept Thailand in recent years." CNBC in the United States, citing experts, analyzed, "Anutin's success hinged decisively on putting nationalism front and center and on Bhumjaithai's strategy of drawing in politicians from rival parties in rural areas."