From overnight millionaires to alien wives: Thai parties’ bizarre election pledges

As the February 8 general election approaches, parties are energetically courting voters with the usual pledges of increased welfare benefits, cuts to living costs, and improved well-being.

However, several policy platforms are stirring debate – some seen as controversial, others as unconventional, and a few that could even be described as downright quirky.

While the front-runners, the opposition People’s Party and the ruling Bhumjaithai, offer competing campaign themes of reform versus security, others are seeking to attract voters through unusual policies.

‘9 new millionaires every day’

Pheu Thai has drawn much publicity – and flak – for its promise to create “nine new millionaires a day” via nine daily draws with prizes of 1 million baht each.

Consumer purchase receipts would act as tickets for five daily draws, with four more draws based on national ID numbers of farmers, volunteers, elderly citizens, and people who file personal income tax. The scheme would cost the government about 3.28 billion baht a year.

The plan has been criticised as a populist measure aimed at luring votes at the expense of taxpayers. Some observers describe the policy as Pheu Thai’s trump card, designed to win back hesitant and disillusioned voters by offering them the chance to become millionaires overnight.

However, the former ruling party argued that the plan is needed to build a comprehensive database of Thai citizens necessary for a fully-fledged digital government.

Pheu Thai leader Julapun Amornvivat said the policy would bring the 9-trillion-baht informal economy under the tax system, calling it “the final jigsaw piece” in the economic restructuring required to elevate Thailand into a high-income country.

Sceptics questioned why the promised daily prizes matched Pheu Thai’s election number – 9.

Yodchanan Wongsawat, the party’s main prime ministerial candidate, insisted this was purely coincidental, saying the party calculated that nine prizes a day would be enough to entice participation in the draws.

Pheu Thai is attempting a comeback to power after its ex-prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was removed from office last August by court order, resulting in the fall of her government.

The court case stemmed from a leaked phone call in which Paetongtarn attempted to appease Cambodian strongman Hun Sen while criticising a Thai army commander responsible for border security in the dispute with Cambodia.

The phone call prompted widespread public criticism and undermined Pheu Thai’s popularity.

Paetongtarn’s father, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is a former ally of Hun Sen, who appointed him as an economic adviser in 2009 while the deposed Thai leader was living in self-imposed exile overseas.

Otherworldly policy platform

The New Alternative Party has turned heads with several unusual policy proposals, which include allowing women to have up to four husbands and sending a Thai spacecraft to Mars and Venus within the next 12 years.

The party, which failed to win a single seat in the two last general elections, has also pledged to arm Thailand with at least 10 nuclear warheads “to boost national security”.

Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, New Alternative’s secretary general and prime ministerial candidate, said the nukes would deter foreign intervention or pressure.

“We wouldn’t need to actually use them. The cost for 10 nuclear warheads would be roughly 6.4 billion baht, which is reasonable compared with other military hardware such as submarines,” he said.

Mongkolkit claimed that all his party’s policies were implementable and had been registered with the Election Commission, as required by law.

He added that, as prime minister, he would send 100 Thais into space by the end of this year, another 1,000 next year, and 10,000 more in 2028.

His space exploration ambitions triggered a bizarre interaction with a netizen during a recent live broadcast.

Asked whether it would be possible to have as many as four extraterrestrial wives, Mongkolkit replied that this would depend on reaching an agreement with the other planet.

His remark led to criticism that the politician was making a mockery of the upcoming election, while his supporters brushed it off as humour.

Death for corrupt officials

The United Thai Nation Party promises the harshest penalty possible to combat the country’s worsening corruption and online scams.

“Capital punishment for corrupt officials and scammers!” declares its campaign leaflet.

The conservative party, founded in 2021 ahead of the 2023 election, claims to “have the DNA” of former prime minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is now a privy councillor.

United Thai Nation also promises to turn abandoned offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Thailand into maximum security prisons for drug convicts.

“No more repeated arrest and release for drug dealers. Jail them in the sea on deserted oil rigs,” reads the party’s campaign leaflet.

Fellow conservative outfit the Economic Party would also impose the death penalty for corrupt state officials under the slogan “corruption equals death”.

The rebranded party, previously known as “Zendai” (Thread), also promises an “Ocean Link” modelled on the Panama Canal, connecting Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand with Ranong on the Andaman Sea.

The mega-project would offer ships a shortcut between the Pacific and Indian oceans. Watertight locks would be built along the canal’s length to negotiate sloping terrain, with aqueducts constructed where necessary, according to Economic Party leader General Rangsee Kitiyanasap.

The conservative Thai Pakdee Party also touts capital punishment as part of its campaign promise to “overhaul the country’s anti-corruption system”.

It says it would push for a mandatory death penalty for corrupt politicians who steal more than 100 million baht, and bar them from receiving a royal pardon.

Additionally, Thai Pakdee has pledged to abolish 500-baht and 1,000-baht banknotes, which it says are commonly used to bribe officials and accumulate so-called “grey money”.

Grow trees to win lottery

The Green Party, which was founded in 2018 but failed to win any seats in the last two elections, has promised a “tree lotto” to encourage tree-planting as a buffer against global warming.

Each tree planted on private land would have a 15-digit identification number, which would be entered into a prize draw 18 times a year, on public holidays.

The party also pledges a universal healthcare programme for dogs and cats, capping vets’ fees at 39 baht per visit. The aim is to cut the cost of pet ownership, thereby reducing the number of cats and dogs abandoned by their owners.