Pheu Thai unveils vision and policy platforms in run-up to Feb 8 election

After an aborted stint in power following the 2023 election, Pheu Thai is reaching out to the electorate again, offering three prime ministerial candidates and an optimistic campaign slogan: “Pheu Thai Can Do It”.

The three candidates for prime minister are:

• Yodchanan Wongsawat
• Party leader Julapun Amornvivat
• Former deputy PM Suriya Jungrungreangkit

Expanding on the party’s central campaign slogan “Pheu Thai Can Do It”, party leader Julapun emphasized that its guiding principle was: “Having enough to eat, to spend, to be proud of and to have dignity.”

This philosophy highlights the importance of improving people’s livelihoods, fostering economic security and ensuring equality, he said.

Economic upgrade

Pheu Thai aims to elevate Thailand from a middle-income to a high-income nation by tackling debt, providing debt relief to farmers, guaranteeing profits on agricultural products, reducing urban living costs through a 20-baht flat-rate metro fare and launching affordable housing projects.

PM candidate Yodchanan, who currently serves as a professor in biomedical engineering at Mahidol University, describes Thailand as being at a “crossroads of hope”.

He argues that sticking with old political models would lead to stagnation, while restructuring the economy and embracing technology would allow the country to overcome the current crises. His vision is to lay the foundation for Thailand as a “high-income country” through two primary mechanisms:

• Upgrading existing engines by focusing on high-value agriculture, future industries and the service sector.
• Creating new growth engines by attracting foreign direct investment, promoting frontier research, developing wellness and medical hubs, and pursuing sustainable development towards net zero goals using technologies like synthetic biology.

Party leader and PM candidate Julapun outlined his vision of eradicating poverty, creating savings guarantees, cancelling debts and generating new income opportunities.

Julapun, who previously served as deputy finance minister in the Paetongtarn Shinawatra government, said he recognized the struggles of ordinary citizens marked by declining incomes, rising living costs, high agricultural costs with low returns, and overwhelming debt. He said his core mission was to answer the question, “Will tomorrow be better than today?”

Debt relief initiatives

Retirement lottery: Within the first three months, every baht spent on lottery tickets will become savings for seniors.

Debt cancellation: Immediate action to resolve informal debt by providing low-interest loans up to 50,000 baht and freeing individuals from fear.

Non-performing loans debt: For NPLs up to 200,000 baht, debtors can pay just 10 per cent (20,000 baht) to clear the debt.

Farmer debts: Principal and interest will be suspended for three years on government bank loans up to 500,000 baht.

Retiree debt relief: Bad debts for seniors up to 100,000 baht will be eliminated within three months.

Good debtor rewards: Those with 100,000 baht debt who pay consistently for one year will get one payment waived.

Incentive for agricultural products

Julapun envisions Thai farmers enjoying stable incomes, protected from market volatility and global price swings. The goal is to reflect real production costs in crop pricing, shield farmers from drought, floods and rising costs (labor, fertilizer, machinery), and empower them to negotiate prices.

Suriya, a former acting PM, deputy PM and transport minister in the Paetongtarn government, is committed to advancing two urgent missions if Pheu Thai leads the government: urban transport and housing solutions.

First, the 20-baht metro pilot projects on the Red and Purple lines in 2024, initiated by Suriya when he was the transport minister, saw significant increases in ridership—17.7 per cent on the Purple line and 50 per cent on the Red line within one year.

However, challenges remain: daily commuting costs exceed 30 per cent of minimum wages for worker families. The fares remain unaffordable for many lower-income groups. Multiple concession contracts drive up costs, and incomplete ticketing integration raises actual travel expenses.

Poor connectivity between metro, bus, feeder and pedestrian systems makes mass transit inconvenient, discouraging a shift from private cars.

Second, affordable housing initiatives would include:

• Quality homes at accessible prices
• Starting payments as low as 4,000 baht/month, with no down payment for middle-income earners (up to 50,000 baht/month) who have never owned property
• Options from 30-square-metre condos to single-family homes
• Fully furnished units, ready to move in
• Close to metro and other mass transit stations
• Initial rollout in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pathum Thani, built on state land
• Part of transit-oriented development
  

Criticism and controversy

During its tenure as coalition government leader under premiers Srettha Thavisin and Paetongtarn, Pheu Thai faced criticism for failing to deliver on key campaign promises, such as the digital money policy and universal 20-baht metro fares.

The party has also been accused of having close ties with money laundering suspects and scammers, and of potential conflict of interest in border disputes with Cambodia, tied to the close ties of de facto party leader Thaksin Shinawatra with Cambodia’s ruling Hun Sen family, though their relations snapped acrimoniously.

Critics suggest that the party’s projection of a technocratic leadership is undermined by dynastic politics, as PM candidate Yodchanan is Thaksin’s nephew.