Organizer: ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute

Description:

Voters in Bangkok, the only Thai province whose residents elect their own governor, will go to the polls on 22 May. For the first time since the 2014-2019 National Council for Peace and Order military regime took power, they will choose both a governor and members of the metropolitan and district councils. Bangkok polls are often regarded as bellwethers of national political sentiment. Observers will therefore look to the coming elections in the Thai capital with a view toward national polls likely to occur next year. At the same time, the Bangkok electorate differs from Thailand’s national electorate. The campaigns of candidates for governor, as well as the identities of the candidates endorsed by various parties, reflect that difference. A further aspect of that difference is the importance of the emerging youth vote in Bangkok.

Speaker:
Pitch Pongsawat is Assistant Professor in, and Head of, the Department of Government, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He is the author of a ground-breaking 700-page study of political trends and voter behaviour in Bangkok in the Thai parliamentary elections of 2019. A well-known and influential television and print media commentator, Dr Pitch received his BA in Government from Chulalongkorn University, his MPhil in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, and his PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.

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