With two weeks to go before the Bangkok gubernatorial election on 28 June 2026, it appears that incumbent Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt is likely to return to City Hall. This is despite mixed reactions to his first term in office. While it would be unfair to describe Chadchart as a failed governor during his first term, it is not uncommon to hear complaints about him as Bangkokians casually talk about the likely results at the end of the month.
Persistent complaints range from PM2.5 pollution, which envelops the capital for three to four months during the dry season, to garbage management. It is still common to see people dumping their rubbish at unofficial collection points along footpaths, where it waits to be collected later at night and risks floating away in the event of a flash flood. Other complaints include the failure to introduce widespread sorting of different types of rubbish and alleged corruption involving officials in his administration.
As of early this week, Chadchart holds a commanding lead in the first NIDA Poll of the 2026 gubernatorial race, with 67.3% of respondents saying they would vote for him. According to the survey, conducted between 2 and 4 June among 2,000 eligible voters across all 50 Bangkok districts, Chadchart’s support far outpaces that of his closest rivals. Only 10.2% of respondents remain undecided, while Chaiwat Sathawornwijit, the People’s Party candidate also known as Dr Jo, placed third with just 8.2% — or roughly one-eighth of Chadchart’s support. The poll found Chadchart leading comfortably in every Bangkok zone surveyed, with support ranging from nearly 63% to more than 70%.
Given Chadchart’s landslide victory last time and the generally passing grade Bangkokians appear to give him, the result was nearly a foregone conclusion. The only candidate who could have posed a real challenge this time was Chaiwat, but last week saw the People’s Party commit a major strategic blunder by naming Suraphol Nitikraipot, a former member of the junta’s rubber-stamp parliament, as chief adviser to its Bangkok gubernatorial candidate. Some accused the party of betraying its anti-coup spirit, while others who had previously supported it publicly announced that they would not vote for its candidate later this month. The party has inadvertently and unnecessarily dragged national politics into local politics out of sheer naivety or indifference.
Pannika Wanich, a co-founder of the dissolved Future Forward Party, whose political movement eventually evolved into the People’s Party, admitted in an interview earlier this week that this is the movement’s lowest point since the Constitutional Court dissolved Future Forward in February 2020. Pannika defended the party by saying that some of its members had supported coups in the past anyway. The difference is that Suraphol, a former rector of Thammasat University, is a high-profile figure. What is more, Suraphol has neither apologised nor expressed contrition for his past role, which included calling for a royally appointed prime minister. There is no consensus on where to draw the line as the party and society navigate the political baggage of figures now seeking a place in the “democratic camp.”
Another co-founder of the Future Forward Party, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, further complicated the matter last week when he defended the People’s Party by saying that it was understandable for a political party to seek to expand its alliances, citing the late Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong’s concept of a united front. This led to widespread criticism of Piyabutr from within the party and elsewhere, with some accusing the party of secretly harbouring communist ideology. Piyabutr later clarified, including in a public message to this writer, that he had left the party and that his views had nothing to do with it. Simply put, the party spent last week defending Suraphol and itself instead of making the case for why Bangkok voters should choose Chaiwat over Chadchart.
In the end, the election will be a test of the People’s Party’s popularity after it won every Bangkok MP seat earlier this year. Some now say Chaiwat may even come third.
In the Bangkok Council elections, independent candidates led voter preferences in the same poll at 29.1%, followed closely by the People’s Party at 26.5%, while 18.35% of respondents said they had not yet decided. This is where the extent to which the People’s Party has shot itself in the foot will also be tested, as Chadchart is not officially aligned with any candidate.