Popular independent wins Bangkok governor's election

BANGKOK (AP) — Residents of the Thai capital Bangkok, in their first opportunity in nine years to vote for their city’s governor, have elected an independent politician seen as representing opponents of the country’s military-backed government, results released Monday showed.

Chadchart Sittipunt had been widely predicted by opinion polls to top the field, but significantly outpaced expectations by taking 1,386,215 votes, or almost 52% of the 2,673,696 votes cast in Sunday’s election, according to virtually complete but uncertified returns.

He competed in a field of 31 candidates, with voter turnout just under 61%.

The 55-year-old Chadchart, though running as an independent, was seen by both supporters and opponents as a proxy for the Pheu Thai party, the main Opposition grouping in Parliament. He served as transport minister in a Pheu Thai government in 2012-2014, and stood as one of the party’s prime ministerial candidates in the 2019 general election.

“Now that we’ve received an order from the people, I would start working right away, visiting communities and areas to see where I could begin my work as soon as I can as a governor," Chadchart told reporters Monday morning. "I have a young, energetic team who are keen to move.”

He spoke at Bangkok's downtown Lumpini Park, where he came to resume his regular exercise routine of running, an activity that helped forge his public image as an accessible, can-do politician.

The independent candidate who was seen as a stand-in for the ruling Palang Pracharath party ran a weak fifth in the race. Former Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang, a retired senior police officer, came in fifth with 214,692 votes, or about 8% of the votes cast.

The 71-year-old Asawin was appointed governor in 2016 by Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army...