UBON RATCHATHANI, THAILAND ¨C Rubber farmer Pinittaya Boonlieng sat with friends in a key political battleground in Thailand to discuss how to vote in the Feb. 8 general election ¡ª a choice that once would have been simple in a region long loyal to former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin¡¯s populist Pheu Thai party has dominated agrarian Ubon Ratchathani and neighboring provinces in northeastern Thailand for decades, but that grip is weakening and voters are switching allegiance to powerful individual candidates.
In this region, Pheu Thai is polling at 30.1%, slightly behind the national front-runner, ?the reformist People¡¯s Party, according to a survey conducted by the University of Khon Kaen in January. The conservative Bhumjaithai Party of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is third ?at 27.2%.
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