BANGKOK -- By giving a landslide victory to a Thaksin-linked candidate in Bangkok's gubernatorial election on Sunday, the voters of Thailand's largest city sent a clear message to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's ruling party: They believe the Palang Pracharat Party (PPRP) is in a tailspin and that the opposition Pheu Thai Party is likely to stage a comeback in a general election due next year.
Bangkok's new governor is Chadchart Sittipunt, a former transport minister who has long been associated with the Pheu Thai Party and remains close to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who skipped out of the country in 2008 during a corruption case against him and has been living in self-imposed exile ever since. Thaksin was ousted from power by a military coup in 2006.
