BANGKOK ¨C Weeks before Thailand¡¯s February general election, Anutin Charnvirakul stood at a rally in the capital Bangkok and declared that his Bhumjaithai Party should be the automatic choice for any patriotic Thai.
¡°I promise to you all that I will safeguard Thailand with my life,¡± the 59-year-old prime minister said. ¡°Just choose Bhumjaithai to guard the country, to help safeguard all of our land.¡±
The stump speech captured ?Anutin¡¯s strategy of riding a wave of nationalism washing through Thailand in the wake of a fierce border conflict with Cambodia last year ¡ª a ?gamble that ?paid off.
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