Rubber farmer Pinittaya Boonlieng sat with friends in a key political battleground in Thailand to discuss how to vote in the Feb 8 general election – a choice that once would have been simple in a region long loyal to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin’s populist Pheu Thai party has dominated agrarian Ubon Ratchathani and neighbouring provinces in north-eastern Thailand for decades, but that grip is weakening and voters are switching allegiance to powerful individual candidates.
