San Francisco Frontiers - Thailand's pilot PM lands runaway election win

Anutin Charnvirakul is the scion of a construction dynasty and a hobbyist jet pilot, but championed Thailand's decriminalisation of cannabis and styles himself as a man of the people.

He has a taste for street food, and appears on social media wearing a T-shirt and shorts while stir-frying with a wok, or performing 1980s Thai pop on the saxophone or piano.

It is an approach that plays well with Thai voters, who see him as effective and, crucially, his own man, unlike some other elite heirs.

At the same time he is seen as loyal to Thailand's traditional social order -- a stance that resonates with many in a still largely conservative society.

The 59-year-old rode to election victory on a wave of patriotism stemming from the border conflict with Cambodia that left scores dead on both sides last year and displaced more than one million people.

He openly declared on Sunday that "Nationalism is in the heart of everybody in the Bhumjaithai Party."

"You can look at the colour," he added, referring to the blue of his party and the Thai national flag.

He became prime minister in September after his predecessor and former coalition partner Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of now jailed former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by court order.

Anutin pulled out of a coalition with the Shinawatras' Pheu Thai party after Paetongtarn addressed Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen as "uncle" and referred to a Thai military commander as her "opponent" in a leaked phone call, causing widespread backlash.

Soon after taking office, Anutin authorised the armed forces to take whatever action they saw fit on the border, without referring to the government first.

Thailand's military took control of some disputed areas in the latest fighting in December, before the current ceasefire was enacted.

"Nobody wants fighting, nobody wants conflict," he told AFP on the campaign trail, tucking into a bowl of noodle soup alongside party members in the capital's Chinatown neighbourhood.

"But we have to defend our integrity and sovereignty."

- Family fortune -

His family fortune centres on Sino-Thai Engineering, a construction firm that has secured lucrative government contracts over the decades, including for Bangkok's main airport and the parliament building.

Anutin's father was acting prime minister during a 2008 political crisis and went on to spend three years as interior minister.

His political fortunes have long been intertwined with those of the Shinawatras, both as ally and rival.

A New York-trained industrial engineer, Anutin in his early 30s joined Thaksin's party, then named Thai Rak Thai, and was banned from political activity for five years when it was dissolved in 2007.

Grounded from politics, he learned to fly, collecting a small fleet of private planes he used to deliver donated organs to hospitals for transplants.

He returned as leader of Bhumjaithai, a party that has proved something of a political chameleon, joining several government coalitions. He served as deputy to his three prime ministerial predecessors, including Paetongtarn.

Earlier, he managed tourism-reliant Thailand's pandemic response as health minister under a military-led government, and made global headlines when he delivered in 2022 on a campaign promise to legalise cannabis, in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

Three months after taking office as prime minister, Anutin dissolved parliament and called the election, a bet that has paid off handsomely.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist from Ubon Ratchathani University, said: "Nation, religion and monarchy -- those were the key elements of Thainess that Bhumjaithai symbolised for many voters."

H.Davis--SFF