Pheu thai | DD News

February 2, 2026 12:16 PM

Rural Thai voters shift old loyalties, testing Pheu Thai’s populist machine

Rubber farmer Pinittaya Boonlieng sat with friends in a key political battleground in Thailand to discuss how to vote in the February 8 general election - a choice that once would have been simple in a region long loyal to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin's populist Pheu Thai party has dominated agrarian Ubon Ratchathani and neighbouring provinces in northeastern Thailand for decades, but that grip is weakening and voters are switching allegiance to powerful individual candidates. In...

September 5, 2025 11:17 AM

Thai parliament to vote on new PM, as Thaksin jets off amid chaos

Thailand’s parliament is set to choose a new prime minister on Friday, after days of political chaos, in a vote that could be overshadowed by the dramatic departure from the country of its most powerful politician Thaksin Shinawatra. Polarising billionaire Thaksin, the central figure in a tumultuous two-decade battle for power in Thailand, left on his private jet for Dubai late on Thursday, with his family’s ruling party Pheu Thai in disarray. Thaksin’s flight out of Thailand came only d...

September 4, 2025 6:22 PM

Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra faces a political reckoning as Pheu Thai reels

When Sakda Vicheansil, a lawmaker from western Thailand, announced his resignation from the ruling Pheu Thai party in early September, his words reflected the extraordinary decline of the country's most dominant politician, Thaksin Shinawatra. "Thai people across the country, and especially in my constituency - Kanchanaburi, Constituency 4 - are suffering," he said on Facebook. "The government has completely failed to resolve their problems." Former premier Shinawatra, 75, has run a p...

September 4, 2025 12:58 PM

Thailand’s ruling party to field candidate in PM vote, vows election soon after

Thailand’s ruling Pheu Thai Party on Thursday said it would nominate its candidate ahead of a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister this week, a late move that could complicate a bid by the rival Bhumjaithai Party and its pact with the opposition. Pheu Thai, which has been struggling to court support since suffering the loss of its prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to a court ruling last week, said it would nominate Chaikasem Nitisiri, a veteran lawyer with limited cabinet exp...