Thailand’s Anutin on course to keep top job

2026-02-05 - 04:16

Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul greets people while campaigning in Chinatown area of Bangkok. (AFP pic) BANGKOK: Heir to a construction fortune and hobbyist jet pilot Anutin Charnvirakul is widely expected to remain Thailand’s prime minister after this weekend’s general election, regardless of the result. His Bhumjaithai party came third in the last vote, but the 59-year-old conservative — who championed Thailand’s decriminalisation of cannabis — became prime minister in September after his predecessor Paetongtarn Shinawatra was ousted by court order. “I came into office with a majority in the parliament,” Anutin told AFP on the campaign trail in Bangkok. “So it is clearly democratic.” He secured the premiership with the backing of the reformist People’s Party, the largest parliamentary grouping, which opinion polls project will come first again this time — ahead of Bhumjaithai. But no overall majority is forecast, and analysts expect Anutin to emerge from