In the rice-growing heartland of Thailand's northeast, Kamol Suanpanya, 80,...
KHON KAEN/SONGKHLA, Thailand - In the rice-growing heartland of Thailand’s northeast, Kamol Suanpanya, 80, meets in the off season with fellow farmers at a community center, where they discuss Sunday’s election, the first after nearly five years of military rule.
Some 1,400 km to the south, a longtime stronghold of the anti-Thaksin Democrat party, rubber farmer Gorneena Pae-arlee isn’t so sure about her vote. Many look to the election as a way out for what they say is an economy that seems to be growing but leaving them behind.Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of rubber and second-largest of rice. Farming accounts for 30 percent of the work force, though only about 10 percent of the economy.
The siblings live in self-exile to avoid convictions - corruption for Thaksin and negligence for Yingluck - handed down after they were ousted. They denied wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated. Thai benchmark rubber smoked sheets were trading at around 56.60 baht per kilogram this week, a far cry from a record 198.55 baht in 2011, according to Refinitiv data.
For many Pheu Thai supporters, hard times have led to borrowing and left them pining for the party’s populist policies.
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