appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Aidan Jones

For any party that wants to change Thailand, bitter experience has shown that winning an election and taking power are two entirely different things.
Conservatives hold the keys to government in the kingdom, where politicians, tycoons and generals serving the apex power of the monarchy allow elections, but conjure up coups and other political manoeuvres to take down winners perceived as a threat to their power.
But this time could be different, says Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the leader of the pro-democracy reformist People’s Party.
Natthaphong, better known by his nickname Teng, helms a movement which won the most seats at the general election three years ago, but ended up shunted into opposition.
“This will be the first time in 15 years that the voice of the people can truly decide the government,” Teng told This Week in Asia on a campaign walkaround at a market in Samut Prakan, with his team wearing jackets splashed with the party’s distinctive orange colour.
“The past two elections, we had senators [with] power to vote for the prime minister – this election is the first time we have no senator power.”
Thailand’s new Senate, which took office in 2024, is no longer allowed to vote for the prime minister. Instead, only the 500 lawmakers voted into the House of Representatives by the February poll will decide who leads the government.

The 2023 election saw the People’s Party’s earlier incarnation – Move Forward Party – win the most votes (14 million) and the most parliamentary seats (151) in the 500-seat elected lower house.
It should have been enough to lead a progressive coalition government, reflecting popular opinion that agreed with Move Forward’s reform agenda of clipping the wings of rampant monopolies, changing Thai power by decentralising authority and amending the lèse-majesté law that protects the monarchy from criticism.
But the unelected conservative senators – hand-picked by the generals after a 2014 coup – swung against its candidate for prime minister, Pita Limjaroenrat.
As their 250 votes counted in a joint chamber vote, Pita was blocked from office over a campaign bid to reform the lèse-majesté law that critics say is an effective deadbolt on wider questions of structural reform in Thailand.
The courts then dissolved Move Forward, as they did its predecessor Future Forward.
The party’s MPs regrouped as the People’s Party and voted for Teng, a 38-year-old software engineer, to take on the daunting task of changing Thai politics.
“The Thai people will have the real power to elect their government,” Teng said.
But a win for the People’s Party, affectionately known as Pak Som (Thai for orange party), is far from guaranteed.
Teng is not Pita, a Harvard graduate whose star quality and K-pop good looks boosted his appeal beyond his politics. The party has also changed.
Teng has compromised on key issues, including scratching reform of the lèse-majesté law from the campaign ticket. Some saw it as smart politics and an overdue dose of pragmatism for a movement often criticised for its idealism. But others saw a betrayal of core values by a party that was forced to serve as the opposition for the last three years.

The bigger picture is also working against Teng, with momentum shifting back towards the conservative side of politics.
Current caretaker prime minister Anutin Charnivirakul has emerged as the standard-bearer for Thailand’s arch-royalist conservatives.
His Bhumjaithai party came a distant third in the 2023 election but is eyeing the top spot this time with the help of the country’s political dynasties who carry large vote banks, while nationalist fervour induced by a border conflict with Cambodia plays to his favour.
Many Thais, however, expect nothing to change no matter how they vote. Early polls indicate a third of Thais are undecided about which party to support on February 8.
Diminishing hope may be the enemy of change, but Teng says he is determined to re-energise the country’s belief in democracy.
“I am hungry to make real change. We want to form a government led by the people, for the people. When I wake up every morning and see the people lower the car window and say ‘hi’, I get the energy I need to go out and speak to the people,” he said.
“I think this time we have a real chance.”

‘Time is our ally’
Whoever forms the next Thai government will inherit an array of problems.
The border truce with Cambodia is shaky, US tariffs are expected to strike the economy in 2026, while economic growth has slumped to its lowest in decades as debt piles up and fewer tourists pick Thailand thanks to security fears and a near-record strong baht.
At the heart of the malaise is the surge of dirty money from scam centres in the Mekong flowing into Thailand’s gold, cryptocurrency and property markets, as well as its listed companies.
Allegations of links between the Thai political and business elite and money launderers have alarmed the public to such an extent that anti-corruption has become the top campaign issue across the political spectrum.
The People’s Party is leading the charge, uncovering scandals that implicate prominent figures.
“The last election was a battle against the conservative establishment that inherited power from the military coup,” the party’s deputy party leader Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn told This Week in Asia.
“This election, however, is a fight against a conservative establishment that has colluded with transnational grey capital.”

Yet just last week, the party had to remove one of its new candidates for Bangkok after he was accused of links to money laundering and drugs.
It is an unwelcome diversion for Teng as he seeks to once more stir an “orange wave” and capture the public’s imagination with his party’s vision for a more equal, more prosperous and less corrupt Thailand.
Quietly following Teng’s entourage as they shook hands across the Samut Prakan market, Panuphon Treesatvirakul said his vote was with the People’s Party to break through Thailand’s political stagnation and banish grey businesses.
“I am voting for change, Thailand has had a very long period of the same politicians, the same governments and my country has not changed anything,” said the 37-year-old, who works at a metals export firm.
But he is under no illusions about the task ahead.
“I’m not fully confident that we will get there in this election,” he said. “But in the near future we will. Ninety per cent of the younger people support this party, time is our ally.”


South Korean killer’s escape foiled, Singapore minister’s Mandarin speech: 7 Asia highlights

What Saudi Arabia’s exit means for China-led mBridge amid global de-dollarisation

Style Edit: Fashion Asia Hong Kong 2026 asks what’s next for design and who will shape it

Upgraded but underperforming: Philippines’ growth lags behind

Thailand

Thailand election 2026: can ‘orange wave’ break conservative grip on power?

Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of the People’s Party, on the campaign trail this week in Thailand. Photo: Aidan Jones


Pita Limjaroenrat (centre) at the Thai parliament in 2024. Pita was blocked from office over a 2023 campaign bid to reform Thailand’s lèse-majesté law. Photo: AFP

People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut (centre) arrives on December 28 for the first day of registration for constituency candidates for Thailand’s coming general election. Photo: AFP

Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut on the campaign trail this week in Thailand. He is keen to show he can provide “real change” for the Thai people in the election on February 8. Photo: Aidan Jones

People’s Party supporters hold placards and cheer for their party during registration of prime ministerial candidates for the 2026 general election in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 28. Photo: EPA

Thai election: border row aids Anutin as Shinawatras fight for survival, reformists chase

Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister and Bhumjaithai Party candidate Anutin Charnvirakul (centre) poses for photos on the first day of candidate registration in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: AFP



Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrives with his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra (left) at the Supreme Court in Bangkok in September. Photo: TNS

Pheu Thai Party’s Yodchanan Wongsawat leaves after a drawing at a candidate registration in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: AP

People’s Party leader and prime ministerial candidate Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut greets supporters in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Thailand’s 2025 of turmoil: border war, scam crackdowns and PM musical chairs

Rescue workers extinguishing a fire at a house after it was hit by Cambodian rocket strikes during clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops, at a village in Kantharalak district, Si Sa Ket province, Thailand, on December 14. Photo: EPA/Royal Thai Army

Anutin Charnvirakul performs a traditional greeting to thank lawmakers after being elected as prime minister during a voting session in parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 5. Photo: EPA

Shoppers at a market in Chinatown, Bangkok, in October. Tariffs, floods and the strongest baht in years have affected growth in Thailand’s economy. Photo: EPA

Elephant riders lead a procession of white elephants to pay respects to the late Queen Mother Sirikit along the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 27. Sirikit died in October aged 93. Photo: AP

Lisa at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Thai fortune-teller predicts client’s bad luck, then gets arrested over stealing her phone

Red lanterns hang along South Pattaya beach as tourists walk past ahead of Chinese New Year. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee

Thai marines rescue starving lions, bears from Cambodian border casino

Two bears found caged inside a Cambodian casino were later rescued by Thai marines. Photo: Facebook/DNP1362


One of the two lions found in cages inside a Cambodian casino near the border with Thailand. Photo: Facebook/DNP1362

This Week in Asia

Politics

People

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

The Senate can no longer pick the prime minister, opening a path to victory for the reformist People’s Party in the election on February 8


The Senate can no longer pick the prime minister, opening a path to victory for the reformist People’s Party in the election on February 8.


Thailand election 2026: can ‘orange wave’ break conservative grip on power?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Senate can no longer pick the prime minister, opening a path to victory for the reformist People’s Party in the election on February 8

The Senate can no longer pick the prime minister, opening a path to victory for the reformist People’s Party in the election on February 8