Thailand’s Anutin re-elected as PM after crushing rival in parliamentary vote

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Mr Anutin Charnvirakul sailed through a parliamentary vote on March 19 to become the first re-elected prime minister in two decades, a fresh mandate that could bring rare stability after years of political turbulence.

Mr Anutin, head the Bhumjaithai Party, led from the start in what turned out to be a rout of his biggest rival, Mr Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of the progressive People’s Party, the surprise runner-up in February in an election it had been widely expected to win.

Mr Anutin won the backing of 293 of Parliament’s 499 members, more than twice the 119 votes Mr Natthaphong secured.

He offered no immediate comment on his victory, but headed into a meeting on energy security.

“Thailand has no issues and is able to still buy oil,” Mr Anutin said after the meeting. “We will ensure public confidence.”

Earlier, dressed in Thai traditional attire in his party’s hue of blue, a beaming Mr Anutin greeted a succession of allies in Parliament, shaking hands and posing for photographs.

In a stunning turnaround for a party that had struggled to make its mark in Thai politics, Bhumjaithai decisively won the February election, riding on a wave of nationalism unleashed by military clashes with neighbouring Cambodia in 2025.

Much of Mr Anutin’s success comes from his opportunism in 2025 in seizing on the decline of the once-dominant Pheu Thai Party, first by abandoning its coalition government then manoeuvring swiftly to form his own after a court sacked a second prime minister in the space of just over a year.

Bhumjaithai’s coalition pact with the politically bruised Pheu Thai and a motley crew of small parties stood firm in the vote on March 19, with Mr Anutin comfortably reaching the 251 votes needed to win re-election.

In the lead-up to the vote, Mr Anutin, 59, pledged to get to work immediately on forming a Cabinet and solving Thailand’s problems.

“Your voices are equally heard,” he told rival lawmakers. “I’m ready to accept suggestions so I can carry out my duty as head of government. We all have the same goals – the well-being of the people.”

Mr Anutin, a staunch royalist, has been a mainstay in Thai politics, weathering two decades of upheaval by positioning Bhumjaithai strategically between warring elites entangled in an intractable power struggle, which guaranteed its place in a succession of coalition governments.

Prospect of stability

His election victory and approval by Parliament gives him his first clear mandate to lead in a country with a long-stuttering economy shackled by massive household debt and facing headwinds from trade uncertainty and the fallout of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

A political veteran and son of a former Cabinet minister who once ran his family’s construction firm, Mr Anutin is a former deputy premier, interior minister and health minister who served as Thailand’s Covid-19 tsar.

Although seen as a conservative, Mr Anutin gained notoriety for leading a successful campaign to legalise cannabis, which led to an unregulated surge of thousands of marijuana retailers.

His survival instincts and ability to straddle political divides could prove to be his biggest asset, some analysts say, with Bhumjaithai having been spared the wrath of Thailand’s powerful military and judiciary, the engineers of the downfall of multiple governments and parties.

Dr Napon Jatusripitak, a political scientist at Singapore’s ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, said that with Bhumjaithai set to hold sway over the Upper and Lower Houses and Thailand’s axes of institutional power appearing to be behind Mr Anutin, the prospects for medium-term stability were good.

“People have strong reasons to believe that this government can last, particularly because it’s the first time in a long while that the referee and the players are on the same side,” Dr Napon said.

“There’s control. And we have a highly fragmented opposition.” REUTERS