Thaksin magic doesn’t work for Pheu Thai’s Chiang Rai PAO candidate

With 95% of votes counted, independent incumbent leads by almost 20,000 votes

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who once held sway over the North, could not help the Pheu Thai Party win the election for Provincial Administrative Organisation president of Chiang Rai.

With 95 per cent of ballots counted late on Saturday, the incumbent PAO chief and independent candidate, Athitathorn Wanchaithanawong, was leading Pheu Thai candidate Salakjit Tiyapairat by almost 20,000 votes.

At around 11pm on Saturday, unofficial results with 95% of votes counted showed Ahtitathorn had received 249,845 votes while Salakjit got 230,262 votes. A third candidate, Jiraporn Muenchaiwong, got 20,254 votes.

In the run-up to the Chiang Rai PAO election, Thaksin, the patriarch of the Pheu Thai Party and the father of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, had visited Chiang Rai twice to campaign for the party. Thaksin had promised Chiang Rai people that they would receive better care from the central government if the PAO president was from the ruling party.

Athitathorn had stunned Pheu Thai by winning the PAO election in 2020.

When ballot counting started on Saturday after the polling stations closed at 5pm, the Pheu Thai candidate inched ahead of Athitathorn by almost 2,000 votes.

By the time 50% of the votes had been counted, Athitathorn had turned the tables on her rival, and built up a lead of 10,000 votes when 75% of votes had been counted.

She declared victory when her lead swelled to 20,000 after 95% of votes had been counted.

Athitathorn told reporters that she did not expect to beat her opponent with such a wide margin. She said she expected to win or lose by some 1,000 votes.

She said she was happy that Chiang Rai people had become politically mature and learned to differentiate between local and national politics.

Athitathorn said her team candidates contesting for posts of PAO members won 60% of the seats. She said she expected to be able to work with PAO members outside her group.

(2025/02/02-00:00)