CHIANG MAI: Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Saturday expressed confidence that the Pheu Thai Party will win the next general election no matter whether the poll is held next month or six months from now.
The daughter of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra drew cheers when she made the prediction at a “Pheu Thai family” rally held by the country’s largest opposition party at the Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre in this northern province on Saturday.
“I am confident Pheu Thai will win the next election no matter whether it is held next month or in another six months,” she told the crowd. “If our brothers and sisters want to have a better life, Pheu Thai has a policy to change lives to make them better than today. Pheu Thai will be the hope for people.”
She vowed to bring growth to Chiang Mai and for residents across the country as her father had done while serving as prime minister from 2001-06. People would have improved well-being and their pockets would be filled with money, she said.
She said she was confident that a landslide victory in the North would be part of Pheu Thai’s election win nationwide.
Ms Paetongtarn, 36, currently heads the party’s inclusion and innovation advisory committee but it is not certain whether she will be its prime ministerial candidate in the next election despite her surname.
An opinion poll of northeastern voters released on Saturday showed Ms Paetongtarn was the second choice for prime minister behind Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, 61, the leader of the Thai Sang Thai Party and a former senior minister under Thaksin.
Ms Paetongtarn urged local constituents to vote for Pheu Thai candidates, saying the party wanted to have as many MPs as possible so that it could help change the hardship that people have been facing for the past eight years into happiness and a better future.
Pheu Thai won the most seats in the 2019 general election but did not qualify for any additional party list seats under the calculation method applied under the 2017 constitution.
The next general election is expected in the first half of next year but could take place sooner. Much could depend on a Constitutional Court ruling, expected later this month, on whether Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has come to the end of the maximum eight-year term set out for a prime minister in the charter.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra takes a selfie with enthusiastic supporters at a Pheu Thai rally in Chiang Mai. (Photo: Panumet Tanraksa)