Nation Group and KPI launch campaign for Bangkok governor election

Nation Group, together with King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI) and network partners, on Friday held a press conference to announce their readiness to cover the Bangkok governor election under the campaign “Bangkok governor: an opportunity for city people”. The election is scheduled for Sunday, June 28, 2026.

Baakbun Boonlert, Executive Vice Chairman of Nation Group (Thailand) Public Company Limited, said the purpose of the cooperation and the event was rooted in Nation’s intention from the outset to work with partners and declare its role as a media organisation that helps encourage citizens to exercise their voting rights.

Nation launched its Nation Election 2026 campaign in December, when it made clear that 2026 would be a major election year, covering both national and local elections down to municipal level.

“We see that our country operates on the principle of choosing representatives to run the country. Nation has a clear intention to encourage the public to exercise their right to vote. One issue we emphasise is how to make people aware of their rights, and how to awaken society so that elections become clean elections. That is why we tried to contact partners from the beginning,” he said.

Baakbun said Nation had declared itself as one of the channels for delivering information, facts and public issues to society, so people could see the importance of joining forces to make clean elections happen in Thailand.

He said the goal was also to encourage people to use their votes to choose the right people to develop Bangkok, Pattaya and local areas, which are not small organisations but are closely connected to people’s lives, society, livelihoods and daily living.

“Therefore, if you want to follow news and information on national and local elections, please consider Nation. We will bring knowledge, facts and information to you,” he said.

On the plan to hold a major debate, Baakbun confirmed that it would still take place, similar to Nation’s previous general election coverage, when travelling debate stages were held in every region.

This time, the election focus is Bangkok, which will host the main stage, while a smaller stage will be held in Pattaya. The initial focus will be on Bangkok before another stage is held, where candidates for Bangkok governor will be invited to tell the public what they would do if elected.

Baakbun said one thing people expected was that “the city is life”, and candidates must explain how they would change the city’s future, because this is the future of everyone living in Bangkok.

Assoc Prof Issara Sereewatthanawut, Secretary-General of King Prajadhipok’s Institute, said the cooperation reflected KPI’s mission as an institution founded through the parliamentary process with a clear aim: to make Thai democracy strong and sustainable.

Since taking office as secretary-general, he said he had initiated several activities. One important element under the democratic process was how to ensure that people use their time in the polling booth to make decisions based on “policy” and not on “influence”.

KPI therefore established the KPI Poll opinion survey centre to ask what people want to know and to assess whether they currently have enough information to make decisions.

He said the latest poll asked what percentage of people had information about the Bangkok governor and Bangkok councillor elections. The figures stood at 48% and 46%, meaning almost half of respondents said they knew, while almost half said they did not.

Issara said this underlined the importance of a second activity: beyond informing the public, the goal is to build new values or standards for Thai politics.

Politicians or those volunteering to serve the public, whether at national or local level such as Bangkok, must be willing and courageous enough to go on stage, make a public pledge and take responsibility for what they say, so people can choose them based on reason. Those pledges would then help guide those individuals to act according to the policies they promised.

Issara said KPI decided to work with a leading media organisation such as Nation because, on its own, the institute’s strength lies in its credibility as a state institution. By cooperating with Nation, a quality media organisation, KPI can assure candidates that the stage will be a safe space.

He said it would not focus on rhetoric or on bringing people together to argue over who speaks better, but would instead provide a platform for policy presentation.

This Bangkok governor election will be the 12th, completing a full dozen. Issara said Thailand should reflect on what has changed since the first election in 1975, exactly 50 years ago. At that time, just over 90,000 people voted. Today, voter numbers have risen to the millions. Turnout, once just over 10%, has now reached about 60%.

“We want to see people come out to vote with quality, so that Bangkok gets a governor and councillors who can solve the problems of Bangkok residents, which are highly complex. Bangkok is both the starting point and the end point of problems,” he said.

He added that the situation today is more complicated because of the question of how much national politics can support local politics, given legal constraints. These issues make this election even more important.

“For this reason, King Prajadhipok’s Institute did not hesitate after speaking with Nation. The result is an activity that includes local forums, special programmes on candidate registration day and Nation’s major debate, which will be held on June 22,” the KPI secretary-general said.

Lertporn Udompong, Deputy Director of the Office of Research and Development at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, said data from KPI Poll, which surveyed people living in the actual area, found that people were alert to the upcoming election of a new city governor, but that almost half were still missing information or awareness. This, he said, reflected the need for election organisers to be alert and not listen only to trends on social media.

He said such information could not emerge without surveys. The purpose was not merely to measure popularity or to serve as a tool for political sides to exploit, but to build knowledge and point to social trends under the concept of being “neutral, truthful and useful”. Each poll result therefore carries both knowledge and an effort to stimulate society at the same time.

“So, when it comes to the policies being proposed today, we already have data on what Bangkok residents want. We have also started looking at what kind of person they want. I think this kind of information will be useful to Nation. In addition, under the secretary-general’s vision of making poll results a source of knowledge and useful direction for society, Nation can help broaden public access to this information, raise awareness, and wake up those who are still inactive so that this issue becomes clearer,” he said.

“Social media trends are not the measure of an election. We want to see turnout in this election higher than in the general election. I think this is an important challenge, and KPI Poll should be able to help,” said Lertporn.