The Thirty-First Thai Elections, held on January 16th, 2035, are upon us, and they are proving to be a turning point in national public opinion, with all candidates being slightly controversial and party lines beginning to falter as more and more of the general public becomes disillusioned with top leadership of parties like the centrist Thurkic.
Pheu Thai Party
President Nattawut Saikua, popular President, is up for reelection as the candidate for the Pheu Thai Party, the left-wing democratic socialist and liberal party popular amongst workers, leftists, protesters, women, minorities, and the middle and lower classes. He is expected to sweep Parliament again.
Despite an ineffectual first term focused on the wars in China and Malaysia, Saikua promises many reforms in his second term, including nationwide healthcare, switching over to solar power, cutting military spending, unifying with Laos, and constructing a large national hyperloop system spanning the nation.
His running mate is the liberal Paeo Thaleh, an MP from the Isan making a name for herself as a prominent activist, looking to eradicate the inequality gap permanently, saying these attitudes “are long past their due date.”
National Solidarity Party
Their candidate is the “Authoritarian Progressive” Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, son of former Crown Vajiralongkorn, the left-libertarian wishing to institute a forward-thinking one-party monarchy similar to Japan’s current system. His selection angered many Conservatives and caused them to leave the party.
His other platforms include nationalizing all industries in the nation, building up the rural countryside, taking down the dangerous Vietnamese government to our east, and destroying the gender gap, similar to Thaleh, who he has forged an impromptu alliance with to save votes.
His running mate - Kittiratt Na-Ranong, primary challenger of Thurkic party founder Aitthipat Kulapongvanich. Na-Ranong has stated he wants to end corporate cronyism and corporatism in general in Mueang Thai, which has attracted some Communists to the party.
Thurkic
Mueang Thai’s current second opposition is expected to either lose some or lose all, with a close primary result plagued by calls of rigging forcing half of all former voters leaving for other parties, and then some. Party founder Aitthipat Kulapongvanich has seen his popularity shoot down and his status as a perennial candidate this election will be confirmed.
His campaign is relatively socially liberal, but economically conservative, but neither go as far as both wing’s established parties, or even the now-Leftist NSP. He mainly attracts those who are anti-establishment and liberals, but even they are leaving the party in droves.
His policies are almost wholly economic-based, and has attracted much criticism for that. He wants lower corporate taxes, lower tariffs, less hostility to big businesses, and a free trade deal with surrounding nations. His running mate is previous associate Bee Taechaubol.
Democratic Party
The revived Democrat Party, led by controversial and unpopular former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, is running as the right-wing alternative to all of the other parties, and is hailed as traditionally Conservative and anti-progress by pundits, rejecting “PC culture.”
He demands lower taxes for all, diversion of spending into the military, industrial buildup of the Southern Peninsula, a reformed tax plan, and other old-school strategies instituted by right-wingers worldwide. The DP is expected to win relatively big compared to Thurkic, holding firmly about 5% of the unchanged vote from 2031 and can win gains up to 15% tops.
Vejjajiva’s running mate is Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, the heir to a major beer production company and a former MP herself, popular amongst upper-class women for her fame and fortune. She has been criticized as a “traitor” to the feminine cause by Yingluck Shinawatra.
