National —
On February 1st, 2025, Thailand held elections for Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) president roles and council members across 47 provinces.
A total of 192 candidates ran for PAO president, while 6,815 contested for council seats nationwide. The official results will still need to be confirmed by the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) as of press time.
Polling took place from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with 47.17 million eligible voters casting their ballots across 90,715 polling stations in 2,316 constituencies.
Unofficial results as of 11:00 PM on February 1st showed:
- Pheu Thai secured victory in 18 provinces
- Bhumjaithai won 12 provinces
- Independent candidates claimed 6 provinces
- Democrats took 4 provinces
- Chart Thai Pattana and Prachachat won 2 provinces each
- Palang Pracharath, United Thai Nation, and People’s Party each secured 1 province
In Chonburi, the top two candidates were:
- Wittaya Khunplume – 303,339 votes, and wins a fifth four-year term as the long reigning PAO president of Chonburi.
- Chutaphak Wasunetkul – 150,707 votes
In Phuket, the leading candidates were:
- Rewat Areerob – 87,688 votes
- Lersak Leenanitikul – 46,498 votes
TPN media notes that PAO presidents generally do not have term limits, although many other roles like Mayors do.
