When Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved Parliament on Dec 12, he did so hoping that a surge of nationalism fuelled by 2025’s deadly border clashes with Cambodia would help him consolidate power in a general election. The Feb 8 vote will prove whether that gamble pays off. Polls show that the electoral contest remains a three-way tussle between Mr Anutin’s ruling Bhumjaithai, the progressive People’s Party and the populist Pheu Thai party. But the reformist People’s Party and its leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut are leading the pack by some margin, with their message of change and reforms cutting through the surging nationalism, although none of the parties is expected to win an outright majority. That could leave Parliament as fractured as when Mr Anutin dissolved the body, citing struggles to run a minority government, amid some of the worst violence along the Thai-Cambodian frontier in decades.

Full report : Thai PM Anutin’s gamble on nationalism to be tested in close election.