While the MFP is seeking support from millennials and Gen Z voters – who make up nearly half of the 52 million-strong electorate – Pheu Thai’s base is in the rural northeast where voters still vote for the policies implemented by Thaksin in the early 2000s. Grateful for welfare policies.
Prayut also urged voters to turn out in large numbers as they voted on Sunday.
The former general has made an unabashedly nationalistic pitch to older voters, portraying himself as the only candidate capable of saving Thailand from chaos and ruin.
But he has trailed badly in the polls, blamed for a creaking economy and a weak recovery from the pandemic, which battered the state’s vital tourism industry.
Voter Pakorn Adulpan, 85, said he was impressed with the quality of this year’s contest.
“I am very optimistic because compared to previous elections there is a tough competition among many talented candidates,” he told AFP.