Thailand’s election stalemate: in Thaksin versus the junta, a pro-marijuana tycoon is kingmaker

As tongues wag over who will solve the Thaksin-junta stalemate in the Thai election, one man has emerged a kingmaker.

Meet Anutin Charnvirakul, a pro-marijuana business tycoon who has offered this piece of cryptic advice as to his political intentions: ‘Hot and Spicy’

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The Bhumjaithai party leader Anutin Charnvirakul has emerged as a kingmaker in the Thai election stalemate. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00am, 30 Mar 2019Updated: 9:06am, 30 Mar 2019

From junta chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, some of Thailand’s biggest political protagonists have weighed in on what’s to come next after the kingdom’s controversial elections last weekend.

With the final outcome expected to be announced and formalised in May, Prayuth – hoping to stay in power as a democratically elected prime minister – had one short but sharp message for the country’s 69 million people – until then, military rule is here to stay.

The noises coming from the camp of arch rival Thaksin were far more shrill.

In a rare media blitz, the former prime minister blasted Prayuth and election officials for “rigging” the polls – the first vote to have taken place since the junta seized power from a government loyal to him in 2014.

Thailand’s prime minister, junta leader Prayuth Chan-Ocha. Photo: AFP

Though widely seen as the orchestrator of the political movement opposing military rule, the 69-year-old wrote on social media that he was a mere “observer” and hoped his name would not be used by political players in the ongoing tussle for power.

Both the anti-junta front linked to him and the pro-military Palang Pracharat Party seeking to keep Prayuth as premier have staked rival claims to victory and are in the midst of horse trading to form a simple majority.