From Superhero Posters to Weed Endorsem*nts: Here’s How Thai Candidates are Campaigning (2024)

After years of military rule, Thailand’s general election is finally around the corner. It’s all Thais have been talking about and the world is eagerly watching to see how it will all play out. Will the country elect a party that represents change and democracy? Or will the current powers, the ruling junta, manipulate the election in order to maintain their control? Whatever does occur come Sunday, March 24, it’s already been quite the spectacle of surprising, humorous, and controversial events leading up to the decision.

From the running of Thai Princess Ubloratana and her subsequent disqualification, to the popular Future Forward Party getting slapped with lawsuits left and right, these past few months have been anything but normal.

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‘Superhero’ candidates

In a rather odd moment, one party gained traction by using some seriously bizarre superhero-themed posters. The candidates of the Thai Local Power party thought it would be a good idea to pose as “heroes” of Thailand, using epic cinema-like pictures earlier in February. And it actually sort of worked. The images got huge attention across the country and netizens couldn’t stop talking about it on social media. It’s pretty unlikely that they’ll gain a ton of votes, and the party isn’t being taken too seriously, but it definitely brought humour into the election climate.

Party leader ‘warrior’ registers to run

When a leading member of Pheu Thai Party, Thaksin’s main proxy party, went to register his candidacy for an MP seat up in northern Thailand’s Uttaradit province, locals couldn’t believe what they were seeing. He came on horseback, fully dressed in a traditional Thai warrior costume with sword in hand, surrounded by his equally dressed soldiers. The MP prospect, Sarunwut Sarunkate, said that his costume symbolised his battle with the ruling dictatorship and to return happiness to the nation.

‘Vote for us and we’ll let you plant marijuana freely’

The political party Bhum Jai Thai, is promoting marijuana as one of their main policies. They’re essentially declaring that if they win, they’ll make it easy to acquire, grow, and sell marijuana for all interested. All across the city are signs that read “Vote for us and we’ll let you plant marijuana freely. We’re pro-marijuana for medical use! Marijuana farming will be huge for business and bring wealth to Thai people.” Just below the text, a large marijuana leaf sits boldly. It’s the first-time marijuana has ever been used as a way to stimulate support for a running political party. And it’s a surprising shift from Thailand’s history of waging deadly drug wars.

‘Buddha’s party’ in trouble for allegedly exploiting religion

The People’s Reform Party, led by Paiboon Nititawan, has been campaigning with a heavy emphasis on Buddhism, Thailand’s national religion. Their campaign posters pronounce, “We humbly receive Lord Buddha’s teachings and apply them to finding solutions for the people’s grievances.” Highlighting a country’s main religion isn’t a new or surprising thing to do in politics across the globe. But earlier last month, the party got hit with a complaint from Buddhist groups saying that they were exploiting Buddha’s teachings to boost their platform and its policies. The election commission eventually cleared the party of the accusation.

Prayut’s cool-bro photos

Current Prime Minister by force, and every Thai’s favorite “Luung Tu” (his popular nickname referencing him as ‘uncle’), Prayut Chan-o-Cha, attempted to win some cool points by releasing some beautifully cringe worthy shots of him posing as a more casual, relaxed, or simply cool-bro version of himself on social media. It seems his party, Palang Pracharat, is grasping at straws to craft a more appealing image of him, one that by a miracle, could garner sympathy from young voters.

Speaking of young voters, a few days ago he told the country that he considers himself the country’s dad, saying, “Today I’m like the head of a family and have 68 million children to take care of.” The internet vomited with brutal tweets pushing #YourKidMyAss as a top trending hashtag on Thai Twitter. Earlier in the month he wrote another song titled, New Day in the hopes of winning the hearts of those who aren’t already loyal to him. Here’s the new song if you want to hear it. Yet as awkwardly contrived as these new ploys to appear approachable may be, the attempts are at least somewhat endearing. But only time will tell if they actually help young voters go to the polls with him in their hearts and minds.

The memes that followed Thai Raksa Chart’s disbandment

Pheu Thai party is Thaksin Shinawatara’s third political installment. Although it’s not officially run by the ousted former prime minister, it is his main proxy party and has been around since 2008. Thai Raksa Chart is a slightly younger party, yet equally controlled by Thaksin himself. It’s seen as the younger brother organisation to Pheu Thai – only it’s said to have been created as a method to take up more seats in parliament for the billionaire ex PM. But it was not meant to be for Thai Raksa Chart. After it nominated Princess Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister, Thailand’s constitutional court quickly disbanded it, weakening the opposition even further.

Twitter user @BadSuperRobot/Twitter used the iconic scene from Lord of the Rings where Aragorn consoles Boromir after getting shot by multiple arrows as a meme to represent the relationship between Pheu Thai and Thai Raksa Chart. The tweet reads “To Fight the DARKNESS, You Must Be BRAVE.”

Another meme takes Avengers’ villain Thanos, the god like character with the ability to kill with the snap of his fingers. The meme uses a recognizable scene where Thanos is snapping his fingers—but adds a dissolving logo of the Thai Raksa Chart party. The caption reads, “It ends here, with no more force left to resist.”