By Thai Newsroom Reporters
A NUMBER OF MINISTERS, past and present, from varied parties are among a total of 100 party-listed contestants running in the Feb.8 election under the tickets of the Bhumjaithai, currently core of the caretaker coalition government.
Led by Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who concurrently acts as the Bhumjaithai leader, the party-listed candidates include some prominent figures among the Bhumjaithai rank and file and others who have departed from divided camps, namely the Pheu Thai and Ruam Thai Sang Chart, plus the Chart Thai Pattana to join the largest ruling core of the current coalition partners under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob.
The Bhumjaithai’s 100 party-listed contestants vying in the nationwide election include current and former ministers as well as ex-MPs who had vied in constituency-based mode in the 2023 election such as Bhumjaithai Secretary-General/Digital Economy & Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob, son of the de facto party boss. Former Chart Thai Pattana leader/former social development & human security minister Varawut Silpa-archa who led an exodus of 10 ex-MPs of his previous camp including himself to the Bhumjaithai to seek re-election mostly in constituency-based mode is running among the party-listed contenders under the tickets of Newin’s camp.
Other prominent figures running in Bhumjaithai party-listed mode alongside Chaichanok and Varawut include members of the current caretaker cabinet, namely Deputy Interior Minister Songsak Thongsri, Prime Minister’s Office Ministers Napinthorn Srisappang and Supamat Isarapakdee, Higher Education, Science, Research & Innovation Minister Surasak Pancharoenworakul, Culture Minister Sabida Thaiseth and Industry Minister Thanakorn Wangboonkhongchana plus the prime minister’s secretary Traisuli Traisoranakul.
Meanwhile, Anutin is scheduled to unveil a couple of Bhumjaithai contestants who are going to be his running mates vying for prime minister on the upcoming Wednesday (Dec.24).
Newin’s camp has so far failed to name either one running mate or a couple for Anutin after Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapat and Commerce Minister Supajee Suthumpun had been repeatedly approached but reportedly not yet responded. In the previous election, the caretaker prime minister had run as the sole Bhumjaithai candidate for head of government.
Nevertheless, members of cabinet may be named among those electoral candidates either running in constituency-mode or party-listed mode regardless of a victory or defeat in their race to parliament and could probably be anyone else who may not be contesting at all. Neither will the ranking of any candidates on a party list be decisively considered when it comes to the post-election naming of members of cabinet.
CAPTIONS:
Top – Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and other Bhumjaithai contestants in the Feb. 8 general election. Photo – Naewna
Front Page – Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul talking to reporters at Government House today, Dec. 22, 2025. Photo – Amarin TV
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