Turnout 63.98% 47.75% 40.97% | 1,256,349 1,077,899 | |
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The tenth election for the governorship of Bangkok took place on 3 March 2013. The election was won by incumbent governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra of the Democrat Party. Twenty-five candidates contested the election. Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, representing the Pheu Thai Party, was regarded as the other major contender.
The election was scheduled to take place sixty days after Sukhumbhand resigned on 9 January 2013, his second-to-last day of office. (Resignation, as opposed to completion of the term, effectively extended the election deadline for another fifteen days.) The Election Commission accepted registrations on 21–25 January, although unofficial campaigning had begun earlier.
The election was viewed as a sharp contest between the Democrat Party, whose candidates had held the governorship since 2004, and the Pheu Thai Party, which lead the current national government. While Bangkok is regarded as a traditional stronghold of the Democrat Party, Sukhumbhand faced low public approval ratings. Prior to endorsing Sukhumbhand, the party faced internal controversy over the candidacy. Sukhumbhand's first-term performance was generally viewed as poor, a fact some have attributed to partisan conflicts between the city and national governments. The Pheu Thai Party picked up on this dissatisfaction and campaigned on "seamless coordination" between the governments. Its candidate Pongsapat previously served as spokesman of the Royal Thai Police.
The highlight of the election was also other candidates who ran independently, including:
Sukhumbhand won the election with 1,256,349 votes, or 47.75% percent of votes cast. Pongsapat won 1,077,899 votes (40.97%). Voter turnout was 63.98 percent.