Thai Voters Look for Stability as People’s Party Implodes

Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Bhumjaithai Party leader and prime ministerial candidate, gestures following a press conference at the party headquarters on the day of the general election in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 8, 2026 | Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters

In an article for the Council on Foreign Relations, Joshua Kurlantzick asserts that Bhumjaithai’s mastery of constituency politics in Thailand’s recent elections has exposed the limits of the People Party’s strategy—as well as Gen Z–driven momentum for reform.

Thailand’s national election did not go the way many polls predicted, at least party list polls, but those polls were capturing party list intentions to vote. Bhumjaithai Party did a great job in the campaign period of picking up support from power brokers in rural areas, and getting commitments to constituency seats, while the People’s Party neglected this aspect and also lost out in the South to the resurgent Democrats, which cut into PP’s totals as well.

The polls also seem to have been off, even on party list intentions. Perhaps that’s because PP lacked a charismatic leader, perhaps it’s because of an upswing of nationalism, perhaps that’s because of increasing polling no response. PP certainly did not have a charismatic leader on the order of their leadership in the 2023 election, and there was infighting among top leaders throughout the campaign.

 Ken Lohatepanont of Coffee Parliament had a great analysis in December of BJT’s gaining of party bosses in the north, particularly, but it was somewhat lost amongst polling showing strong party list support for PP. Yet these bosses delivered a lot of important constituency seats, and PP could not match that.