A low-profile local election in the southern province of Phatthalung started to attract more attention on Wednesday, after former-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared on stage to campaign for one of the candidates.
Abhisit revealed that he decided to campaign for Saroj Samart, who is running for the Provincial Administrative Organisation chief’s job in Phatthalung, because he had worked closely with Saroj for a long time when he was the Democrat party leader.
“Khun Saroj has a good policy to bring good development to the province,” he said on stage to loud applause.
Five candidates are vying for the PAO chief position, but two of them, Saroj of the Rak Phatthalung (Love Phatthalung) team and Wisut Thammaphet of the Palang Phatthalung (Phatthalung Power) team, are currently the main contenders.
The local election for the position of PAO chiefs in many provinces will be held this Saturday.
Saroj has campaigned as an independent candidate, but many believe that a coalition government party, Bhumjaithai, are supporting him behind the scenes.
That would imply that Abhisit is effectively supporting Bhumjaithai, but Abhisit stated on stage that he has the freedom to campaign for anyone he deems right and does not have a personal vendetta against anyone.
The former premier quit as leader of the Democrats and as a party member in 2023, after Chalermchai Sri-on was elected the party’s new leader.
After resigning from the Democrat Party, Abhisit has maintained a low profile, appearing only at educational institutes for lectures and in social service activities.
Nipit Intarasombut, an eight-time Democrat MP for Phatthalung, has criticised Abhisit for taking sides with Bhumjaithai.
His criticism has been rejected by Abhisit's supporters, who claimed that Nipit made the remark because he lost to a Bhumjaithai candidate in the 2019 election.
