‘Madame Dear’ takes her gloves off, pledges tough crackdown on drugs
Democrat political star Watanya Bunnag told a rally in the battleground province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Thursday that the once-formidable party will show no mercy in its efforts to combat the narcotics trade.
Watanya, known affectionately by her supporters as “Madam Dear”, told the crowd: “The Democrat Party will use an eye-for-an-eye approach to combat drug dealers and manufacturers.”
Watanya is the wife of Nation Group CEO Shine Bunnag.
She was speaking at Hua Sai stadium in the southern province, which the Democrats swept in the 2011 election. They lost half their seats in the province to the Palang Pracharath Party in the 2019 election.
The province is the most populous in the South. The region is the former base of the once-formidable Democrats – Thailand’s oldest political party.
It is fighting tooth and nail to regain its leading position in the South after being wiped out of Bangkok – its second former stronghold – in the 2019 election.
Watanya urged residents of Nakhon Si Thammarat to return to the Democrat fold in the May 14 election.
She introduced all 10 Democrat MP candidates running in the province’s 10 constituencies.
She highlighted the party’s tough approach to narcotics – a major concern of voters in the province – and also indicated that her party would limit distribution of marijuana.
“We support legalising marijuana strictly for medical use only. There will be no freedom to use ganja under our watch,” she said.
Watanya also blasted the Palang Pracharath Party, which she was a member of before joining the Democrats.
People have been suffering from the rising cost of living, and escalating energy and utility prices during the past four years of the Palang Pracharath-led governing coalition, she said.
“You have tried a new party and it did not improve anything,” she told the crowd, adding:
“It’s time to return to the Democrats. Make the change happen with your own hands on May 14.”
Watanya also took a shot at Pheu Thai’s campaign pledge to transfer 10,000 baht into the digital wallets of every Thai 16 years of age or older, saying the party – which has a dramatic lead in opinion polls – is “deceiving the public by wasting tax money”.
“The Democrat Party will not use this wasteful policy to win votes,” she said. “We will focus on creating opportunities so that people can stand on their own two feet.”
