Wearing black jackets or suits with dark glasses perched on their noses, the comic book vigilante-style silhouettes hanging from the gymnasium façade look like the cast of a hit crime series. In reality, there are some 10 celebrities from the People’s Party (Phak Prachachon, in Thai), a party that seems to continually rise from its ashes and is the clear favorite in Thailand’s legislative elections on Sunday, February 8.
On Friday, its final campaign rally took place in the working-class Din Daeng district in northern Bangkok, at the foot of buildings set for demolition, where groups of young people clashed with police for months following the historic 2020 protests.
In the crowd clad in orange – the party’s color – young people and older generations bought fans adorned with the faces of their favorite leaders, who are known by their nicknames: “Teng,” the party’s candidate for prime minister; “Pita,” the party’s former leader; and “Ice,” the outspoken young MP Rukchanok Srinork. While other parties are often represented by just one or two establishment figures, usually lacking charisma, the candidates – both current and former – of the People’s Party have become new heroes for many Thais, thanks to their tenacity in Parliament and their promises of change. Their conservative rivals label them as dangerous “republicans,” a pejorative term in the eyes of those who support the military and palace-centered order.
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