Kamronwit turns tables on Charn, wins Pathum Thani PAO election

Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrachang has been elected president of the Pathum Thani Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO), beating his opponent, Charn Puangpetch in a landslide victory.

This is an about-face from the earlier election on June 30 when Kamronwit lost to Charn Puangpetch by just 2,000 votes.

However, Charn later received a yellow card from the Election Commission for hosting parties and entertainment to entice voters to cast their votes for him, leading to a new election being held yesterday (September 22).

Preliminary unofficial results from all 7 districts, with about 95% of the votes counted, showed that Kamronwit from the “Pathum Lovers” group, had a substantial lead over Charn from the “Pathum Rak Thai” group, affiliated with the Pheu Thai Party, by more than 60,000 votes. Pathum Thani province has 949,415 eligible voters, with 1,437 polling stations across 7 districts. It is estimated that only about 50% of eligible voters participated.

This new election saw a shift in factors and support for both candidates. Kamronwit gained backing from the influential local “Big House” group while Charn faced uncertainty regarding his eligibility to serve as PAO president due to a pending corruption case dating back to his tenure as Pathum Thani PAO president in 2012.

He was accused of procurement fraud related to relief bags, a case that was forwarded by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct.

Although he had posted bail and the court did not suspend his duties, questions arose regarding his ability to serve after being elected in June.

In response, Kamronwit adopted the campaign slogan “Elect me, I can start working immediately”, implying that if voters chose Charn, he might not be able to work right away. Charn countered with his own slogan, “Work immediately, Pathum Thani must be better”, in an effort to downplay his weaknesses.

After the unofficial results were announced, Kamronwit declared victory and noted that several factors, including rain and voter fatigue, had contributed to the lower turnout compared to the previous election. “Even though we lost 30,000 votes compared to last time, we won by almost 60,000 votes, which raises questions about what happened in the previous election,” he remarked.

When asked whether he was concerned about working with the government, given that they are on opposite sides, Kamronwit stressed that he was not aligned with any political faction and is ready to collaborate with various ministries.

In his concession speech, Charn thanked his supporters, acknowledging the 100,000 votes he received as a gesture of goodwill. Although he lost by a wide margin, he said there were no hard feelings and reiterated his commitment to serving the people of Pathum Thani, in line with his slogan, “We will not abandon the people of Pathum Thani.”