Political parties geared up their campaigning on all fronts on Saturday in the remaining few hours before polling stations open at 8am on Sunday.
Pheu Thai sent a caravan of its Bangkok MP candidates along six routes. The biggest vote-getter in all previous elections going back to 2001 earlier asked pro-democracy supporters to vote “strategically” by overwhelmingly casting ballots for it in the 250 constituencies where it is fielding candidates.
The reason is not that it fears the popularity of the pro-regime Palang Pracharth Party, but that its support will be undercut by other pro-democracy parties such as the Future Forward Party (FFP). If that happens, Pheu Thai risks losing out to pro-regime parties or the Democrat Party in several constituencies where victory margins are slim.
Pheu Thai faces an added disadvantage in that its ally Thai Raksa Chart has been disbanded for attempting to field Princes Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate. The two parties had a plan to not compete directly with each other in certain strategic constituencies, and for Thai Raksa Chart to focus on winning a large share of the popular vote to obtain more party-list seats. This is because new election rules will make it hard for the biggest parties to win as many list seats as they did in the past.
Even though votes for all pro-democracy parties will end up being calculated for party-list MPs, winning at the constituency level is a much easier task historically. Based on the 2011 results, a constituency could be won with a mere 40,000 votes. But in Sunday’s poll, as many as 100,000 votes are likely to be required for each party-list MP.
The system allows a party to keep all its constituency seats even if it exceeds its total quota of seats. In any case, Pheu Thai has been urging supporters to vote “strategically”. (continued below)
Future Forward secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul on Saturday wrote on Facebook: “For us, there’s no vote for strategy -- only vote for change, vote for hope and vote forward!”
The Democrat Party also launched a caravan in the capital to promote its “honest democracy, strong economy” slogan.
Bhumjaithai also sent its caravan of Bangkok candidates out into the streets, although the race for the capital's 30 seats is belived to be mainly between Pheu Thai and the Democrats. Bhumjaithai won one seat in Bangkok in 2011.
The New Economics Party held a briefing on Saturday to reiterate that it would not support the PPRP after the pro-regime party said it would try to form a government without even waiting for the party with the most votes to move first.
New Economics leader Mingkwan Sangsuwan, a former deputy prime minister in the dissolved People Power Party-led government in 2008, said his party and PPRP had different ideologies. “We pledge to work with pro-democracy parties by taking integrity and benefits of all Thais into consideration,” he said.
If in the future it found the coalition it had joined was not working honestly, his party was ready to pull out, he added.
Mahachon Party, whose PM candidate Pauline Ngarmpring is a transgender, issued a statement vowing to represent the 6 million-strong LGBT community and push policies promoting equality in Parliament.
Chart Pattana, meanwhile, focused its campaigning in its stronghold of Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday, saying it is ready to be in the government or the opposition, but any coalition it joins must have enough votes to ensure stability.
“I want to see big parties look at each other to avoid a deadlock,” leader Suwat Liptapanlop added.