r/CannabisThailand Newsletter - Issue #41

Happy Songkran

Apr 16, 2023

Sawadee Everyone,

This week marked the first wet Songkran since Covid shut things down in 2020.

Technically, there was a Songkran last year but the police were out in many areas to ensure that there was no water splashing. For many people (like me) that doesn’t even count as a real Songkran.

I recently mentioned the emotional roller coaster ride of Thai politics and after a week or two of negative stories about cannabis legalization in Thailand, things look like they’ve shifted in the other direction this week with Minister of Public Health and potential next prime minister Anutin being featured in Reuters and Time articles that paint a flattering picture.

Further reason for optimism came in a poll which projects that Pheu Thai won’t come anywhere near the landslide victory they need to easily win the prime minister position.

Previously having projected themselves to win 310 seats in parliament, this poll projects that they’ll only win 135 - 185 seats. They’re still projected to be the largest party after the elections, but they’ll need to do some horse trading with other parties to get enough votes to put their party in the PM role.

Anutin’s party, Bhumjaithai is projected to come in second with between 96 - 146 seats which would put them in a good position to assemble their own coalition to become PM or to partner with Pheu Thai and push them over the top.

So, like a roller coaster we go up and down and around. Expect more twists and turns in the coming months.

Until then, I hope everyone had a safe and fun Songkran.

Cheers,

u/CannabisThailandMod

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