A profile of Anutin Charnvirakul, the prime ministerial candidate from Bhumjaithai Party, following his termination of the MOA with the People’s Party, the dissolution of parliament, and the announcement of a new election. He declared that next time Bhumjaithai will be the top party to secure another term as prime minister.
On 17 December 2025, the election timeline was finalized. The Election Commission set 8 February 2026 as the official voting day, with early voting on 1 February 2026. Candidate registration for constituency seats is scheduled from 27 to 31 December 2025, while registration for party-list seats and submission of prime ministerial candidate names is set for 28 to 31 December 2025.
For Bhumjaithai Party, three prime ministerial candidates will be nominated this time. Undoubtedly, the first candidate is Anutin Charnvirakul, the party leader. The other two candidates are yet to be officially confirmed, as invitations have been extended but no responses received yet.
Anutin Charnvirakul, currently Thailand’s 32nd prime minister, was born on 13 September 1966. Nicknamed “Noo,” he is the son of Chavarat Charnvirakul, known as Pu Jin, a former MP and multiple-term minister. The media commonly refers to Anutin as “Sia Noo.” He is currently 59 years old.
Anutin first married Sanongnuch Wattanawarangkool in 1990, with whom he has two children: Nainphak and Seranee Charnvirakul. They divorced in 2013. He then married Sasithorn Chandrassombun. In January 2019, he divorced Sasithorn and is currently in a relationship with Supanan Nirasit, nicknamed Ja, his third wife, officially introduced publicly. He has mentioned that he often checks in at her coffee shop.
Anutin completed his secondary education at Assumption College before studying in the United States in 1989. He graduated with a degree in engineering from Hofstra University in New York and began working in his family’s business.
During that time, he pursued additional studies, including a Mini MBA at Thammasat University; an honorary Doctorate in Civil Engineering from Ramkhamhaeng University; senior executive courses in capital market science (Batch 9), urban development management (Batch 1 and Batch 3), energy science (Batch 1), justice process management (Batch 17); an honorary Doctorate in Business Administration in Management from Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University; senior executive courses in trade and commerce (Batch 9); and senior executive training at the Royal Thai Police.
In 2017, he completed the first batch of the Business Reform and Innovation Network (BRAIN 1); the 5th batch of the Medical Governance Certificate for Senior Executives; the first batch of Senior Executive Tourism Management; honorary Doctorates in Public Administration from Western University, in Management from Srinakharinwirot University, and in Economics from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce; the 6th batch of the Rule of Law for Democracy program; and the 61st batch of the National Defence College.
Anutin entered politics in 1996, serving as advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Prayuan Chaiyasarn), and later as Deputy Minister of Public Health (2004 and 2005) and Deputy Minister of Commerce (2004). He was banned from politics for five years due to his role as an executive in the Thai Rak Thai Party. After his ban ended in 2012, he joined Bhumjaithai Party, his father Chavarat’s party, which had split from the People's Power Party alongside a group allied with Newin Chidchob. He was later elected party leader, succeeding his father.
In the 2014 general election, Anutin ran as the top candidate on Bhumjaithai’s party-list but the election was nullified. In the 2019 election, he was again the top party-list candidate and was nominated by his party as one of the candidates for prime minister.
After the election, Anutin and Bhumjaithai joined a coalition government with the Palang Pracharath Party, supporting General Prayut Chan-o-cha for a second term as prime minister. Anutin was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Health, and also chaired the Health Systems Research Institute.
During his tenure as Minister of Public Health, controversy arose when Anutin referred to COVID-19 as “a trivial virus” before the pandemic severely worsened in Thailand, with daily infections reaching tens of thousands and deaths in the hundreds for several months.
In the 2023 election, Anutin was re-elected as the top party-list candidate for Bhumjaithai and again nominated as a prime ministerial candidate. Subsequently, he joined a coalition government led by the Pheu Thai Party, taking the roles of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
When the new government was formed with Pheu Thai as the leading party—despite Move Forward Party winning the most seats but failing to form a government—Pheu Thai invited Bhumjaithai, with 71 MPs, to join the coalition. After the government was officially appointed, Anutin served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
However, toward the end of last year, Anutin and coalition partners faced severe conflicts over policies and administration, causing significant discord. In June 2025, Anutin submitted his resignation from the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
A political incident followed involving Pheu Thai’s Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose ministerial status ended after the Constitutional Court ruled 6-3 that she violated serious ethical standards concerning a leaked audio clip of a conversation with Hun Sen, President of Cambodia’s Senate. This triggered the need to vote for a new prime minister.
Bhumjaithai approached the People’s Party, led by Natthapong Rueangpanyawut, a coalition partner, but the People’s Party refused and proposed an MOA with conditions: constitutional amendment, a minority government, and dissolution of parliament to hold new elections within four months. Otherwise, they threatened a no-confidence motion against the government. After Bhumjaithai agreed, the People’s Party allowed 142 votes to elect Anutin as the 32nd prime minister. However, in December, during the extraordinary joint parliamentary session on 11 December 2025, Bhumjaithai tore up the MOA by refusing to vote on constitutional amendments proposed by the majority committee, specifically opposing the removal of the one-third Senate vote requirement in constitutional changes, and petitioned for parliament dissolution, preempting the People’s Party’s planned no-confidence motion.
Anutin also declared that in the next election, Bhumjaithai must win more than 200 seats to become the top party. Many influential figures from Suphanburi and former MPs from various parties have joined Bhumjaithai to strengthen its position for the upcoming election.
