By Panuwat Panduprasert

In perhaps the clearest indication yet that Thai politicians are entering the ‘election mode’, the Thai government has announced a set of wide-ranging policy measures aimed squarely at rural farmers and the urban poor, both often seen as supporters of Thaksin and his associated parties.

The package, as Soonruth Bunyamanee explains in the Bangkok Post, is known by the catchy name of “Pracha Wiwat” and is expected to “[put] more than 30 billion baht into the pockets of poorer people who include motorcycle and taxi cab drivers, street vendors and farmers.” Democrat Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij was at pains to stress that, unlike the numerous populist schemes during the Thaksin era, the government’s programmes will be sustainable and reasonable. He did not mention, however, whether the unveiling of such generous schemes is a sign that a new election is imminent.

A common criticism of Thaksin is that government spending under Thai Rak Thai was reckless and put a huge burden on the public finance. And yet the current Democrat-led coalition has implemented some of the programmes initiated by TRT and its successor PPP, including free bus and train rides and free water allowances. Over the past nine years the Thaksin camp has focused on cementing its image as a party of action and contrasting that with the Democrats’ relative lack of achievements. This clearly does not sit well with Abhisit and co.; the pressure is on them to come up with something original.

Still, the government will no doubt need to do more to convince sceptics and critics who have given a generally lukewarm response to the news. PAD’s Suriyasai Katasila argues that there are no conceptual differences between Pracha Wiwat and TRT’s projects, while even the government-created Reform Committee believe the schemes are designed primarily to earn votes rather than to benefit the country in the long run. In response, Korn, via Facebook, hit out at some of the critics for allegedly not having studied the government’s plan well enough.

In the end, long-term observers of Thai politics know full well that the Democrats’ desire is to win an election in their own right, if only to get one over their detractors who have continually lambasted the party for relying on the support of the military and other centres of power. It took almost ten years and three election defeats, but the party’s bigwigs seem to have finally come to terms with the idea that populism is probably the most effective path to election victories in today’s Thailand.

Panuwat Panduprasert can be found on Twitter – @tumbler_p