As Bangkok heads to the polls this afternoon to pick a new leader for the BMA, news outlets from around the world are maintaining a watchful eye, and weighing in on what the election results could mean for Thailand.
The international consensus seems to be that Pongsapat will come away the victor, a supposition supported by today’s exit polls. What that victory could mean for Thailand has become a point of wide-spanning speculation.
Reuters, in its breakdown of the election’s stakes, implied that a win by Pongsapat could mean a green light for many of Bangkok’s long-in-coming infrastructure projects:
[A victory by Pongsapat] could accelerate urban infrastructure by aligning the Bangkok and national governments under the same political party, making it more likely the cash-strapped city’s projects can tap Thailand’s federal largesse at a time when the economy, Southeast Asia’s second biggest, has begun to boom.
Securing the federal government’s cooperation may be essential for the completion of several of Bangkok’s major infrastructure projects, including light rail lines and expressways, since, as Reuters once again points out, the BMA’s budget is woefully insufficient to accomplish these sorts of large-scale projects on its own. At present, the BMA has a budget of roughly USD2 billion per annum. Compare this with the budget for comparably sized New York City, which stands at USD66 billion per annum. Jakarta’s municipal budget comes in at well above USD4 billion.
Other news organizations are speculating about the implications of this gubernatorial election as well.
Both Bloomberg and the Associated Press released articles earlier today that speculated a victory by Pongsapat would usher in an era of decreased relevance for the Democrats – Thailand’s oldest political party and typically the voice of the country’s middle class.
According to Bloomberg:
A ruling party victory would further weaken the opposition and add to pressure on Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, whom Yingluck unseated as prime minister 18 months ago by winning a parliamentary majority. It would also boost Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister by the military in 2006 and is seeking an amnesty to return to Thailand after fleeing a jail sentence on charges stemming from the coup.
The AP, in its coverage of the election, offers some historical context:
Bangkok is one of the few strongholds that the Democrats did not lose to the Pheu Thai party, led by Thaksin’s sister and current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in the 2011 general election, thanks to the capital’s pro-establishment middle class and elite voters.
While the winner of today’s election remains uncertain, it seems as if everyone can agree that the resultant fallout will be felt throughout the country.
