Bangkok, Thailand – The populist Pheu Thai party – this time under Paethongtarn Shinawatra – looks set to dominate Sunday’s election in Thailand, but crucial to its success will be whether the party can retain its appeal in its traditional heartland in the country’s north.
The party founded by the Thaksin Shinawatra in 1998 as Thai Rak Thai has won the most seats at every election held in Thailand this century.
Its leader Paethongtarn, better known as Ung Ing, is the 36-year-old daughter of Thaksin and the niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, another former Pheu Thai prime minister who, like Thaksin, was removed in a coup.
But as the party comes under pressure from the progressive Move Forward party, it is having to fight for every constituency, even in the north.
“People in the north voted for Thaksin, and his sister, and now his daughter largely for identity reasons,” Joel…
