Four seen as frontrunners for Bangkok governor

These four popular contenders are MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Kaewsan Atibodhi, Yuranan Pamornmontri and ML Nattakorn Devakula.

Yet, if policies are to be the criteria, Sukhumbhand and Kaewsan appear to have the strongest chance of winning. While Sukhumbhand of the Democrats has relied on policies that pushed his party mate Apirak Kosayodhin to gubernatorial victory in October, Kaewsan has impressed many with his readiness to take on the city's top job.

Apirak was elected as Bangkok governor twice. However, his consecutive second term ended abruptly in November when he submitted his resignation over the National Counter Corruption Commission's conclusion that he should be prosecuted over a firevehicle procurement scandal.

When the new gubernatorial election was scheduled to take place on January 11, the Democrat Party fielded Sukhumbhand as its candidate.

Since Day One, Sukhumbhand - who was a former deputy foreign minister - has vowed to pursue the policies initiated by Apirak and the Democrat Party. Sukhumbhand has also emphasised he will do his best to return happiness to Bangkok, which has been politically divided in recent years.

Policies aside, Sukhumbhand also boasts strong backing.  Apirak - who remains very popular among Bangkok voters - has now accompanied Sukhumbhand to various constituencies in Bangkok. The Democrat Party also has a network of Bangkok councillors and Bangkok municipal councillors, who can help Sukhumbhand with his campaign.

Furthermore, voters who support the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will likely cast their ballots for Sukhumbhand too.

A PAD coleader is a Democrat. Many highprofile Democrats also showed up at PAD protest sites in the past; and PAD played a key role in bringing down the governments led by Thaksin Shinawatra and his cronies.

Kaewsan cannot hope to rely on support from PAD supporters, even though he worked against Thaksin during his stint at the Assets Examination Committee (AEC).

Recently, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul criticised Kaewsan for being close to Yuenyong Opakul or Aed Carabao, a famous songforlife singer.

However, Kaewsan's dream of becoming the next Bangkok governor remains alive because he comes up with solid policies.

And for each policy, Kaewsan has highlyqualified people on his side.

Declaring he will promote tourism, he says Pongsak Payakwichien  former head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) - will serve as deputy Bangkok governor in charge of tourism if he is elected.

On economic policies, former commerce minister Dr Somkid Jatusripitak has agreed to help Kaewsan if he wins the upcoming gubernatorial election.

The higher voter turnout at the upcoming Bangkok Governor election is, the stronger is Kaewsan's winning chance.

During the last gubernatorial election, only 54 per cent of eligible Bangkok voters went to the polls. Apirak of the Democrats earned 991,018 votes, Prapas Chongsanguan of the People Power Party got 543,488 votes, Chuwit Kamolvisit enjoyed 340,616 votes and Kriangsak Charoenwongsak grasped 260,051 votes.

Many of the votes for Apirak will of course go to Sukhumbhand.

Much of the vote for Prapas will likely go to Yuranan because the latter is now candidate from the Pheu Thai Party - a new base for politicians from the justdissolved People Power Party.

Therefore, if Kaewsan hopes to get enough votes to win, he must hope to tap into another support base - which comprises those who did not go to the poll last time. A 60percent turnout at the upcoming gubernatorial election would help Kaewsan a lot.

On Nattakorn's chances, this TV news anchorman emerged as frontrunner when he first announced his decision to run for the Bangkokgovernor post - but his popularity has dropped in recent surveys.

Nattakorn's position is that he will uphold laws, and he is ready to take action against both PAD and Thaksin supporters if they commit legal offences. At the time he started his campaign, PAD and its yellowclad supporters occupied Government House.

Nattakorn then said, "If you disapprove of PAD and the Democrat Party's position, vote for me".

However, PAD demonstrators have now vacated Government House and the Democrat Party is the ruling party.

As a result, a large number of voters may no longer feel the need to disapprove of PAD and the Democrat Party by voting for Nattakorn. Thaksin's supporters will not vote for Natthakorn either, because most will prefer Yuranan.

Critics expressed doubts whether Nattakorn would really be ready to govern Bangkok, a city with more than 10 million residents - a huge number who include migrant workers from other provinces.

 Nattakorn is selfconfident, prompting voters to feel this 32yearold man would probably love the onemanshow working style - something that would not work well for the city's administration. Although Nattakorn is popular among young people, in the past this section of eligible voters has turned out in small numbers at polling stations.

Yuranan, a former actor, has been in the political arena for many years already but his profile is not outstanding. As a result, he is expected to get votes mainly from those who love the Pheu Thai Party and the justdissolved People Power Party.

The fans of his movie may vote for him too. But, that is unlikely to be enough for him to claim the city's top job.

While his Pheu Thai Party is now on the opposition bench, Yuranan has failed to point out to Bangkok voters that installing him in the city administration would allow him to counterbalance the ruling party.

So far, there are still three more weeks before Bangkok voters hit the polling booths. Thus, all these contenders will have time to prove why they really deserve to get the post of Bangkok governor and why Bangkok voters should trust the capital's future in their hands.