Election of Bangkok governor turns into mini-referendum

Almost three years after the Thai capital was engulfed by weeks of deadly violence between the "red-shirt" supporters of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the opposition "yellow shirts", today's election to decide who will be Bangkok's next governor has become a mini-national referendum.

A total of 25 candidates are standing, but the poll is being seen as a straight fight between Thailand's ruling Pheu Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party.

A win for Pheu Thai would confirm the party's dominance of national politics, following its comprehensive victory in the 2011 general election. For the increasingly desperate Democrats, Bangkok remains their last major stronghold. Losing it is likely to precipitate a shake-up of the party's leaders.

"The election is an expression of the national conflict between the Democrats and Pheu Thai," said Pitch Pongsawat, a professor of political science at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "Both parties will fight to the death. It's a real test of the different ideologies and the party machines."

Looming over the poll is Thaksin, still the most important figure in Thai politics and who many believe continues to run the country through his sister, current prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Opinion polls show that Bangkok's residents are most concerned with worsening traffic and pollution and all-pervasive corruption.

Yet, those polls reveal that almost 60 per cent of voters do not view the contest between Pheu Thai's candidate, former Police General Pongsapat Pongcharoen, and the Democrats' incumbent governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra as an issue-based election about the capital's future.