Joe Chaiwat, candidate for Bangkok governor, led the People's Party council candidates to the election registration venue, hoping that Bangkok voters will elect the entire team to jointly advance their agenda.
At 06:58 on 28 May 2026, reporters reported that the People's Party, led by Mr. Chaiwat Sathaworawijit, candidate for Bangkok governor, arrived with all 50 prospective Bangkok council candidates at the Irawat Phatthana Building, Bangkok City Hall 2 (Din Daeng), traveling by electric bus.
Mr. Chaiwat said in an interview that they are very prepared. Today they came with council candidates and the management team. Regarding being watched as one of the top three favorites, he was asked if he expected to be number one. Mr. Chaiwat said that the people of Bangkok will be the ones to decide. Their duty is to do their best by using this Bangkok election opportunity to present the agenda to develop Bangkok’s future over the next four years, as well as the future of all 50 districts in Bangkok during the same period. They have both the city agenda and the district agendas of the 50 council candidates, with plans they want to create and push forward if elected. But it is necessary to elect the governor from the People's Party as well.
“If we entrust the People's Party's agenda to a governor from another party to drive, it is likely to be difficult. So we want to offer this as a key selling point: we want voters to choose us as a full team — both the People's Party council candidates and the People's Party governor.”
When asked about urgent issues in districts that remain unaddressed after visiting each area, Mr. Chaiwat said Bangkok faces many urgent problems, including waste and landfill issues. However, they want to focus on structural and systemic problems that they have consistently highlighted. Besides routine fixes like clearing drains or repairing sidewalks,
there is a greater need for development in areas that may have been neglected before, such as corruption management. They have introduced a system they developed called “Transparent Bangkok AI Anti-Corruption,” designed to enable Bangkok's administration to tackle corruption issues from the outset. Because once corruption occurs, the governor’s power to manage it is very limited. Therefore, it is crucial to address these problems from the start — from budget planning and studying standard prices before submitting proposals to Bangkok’s council, to the middle stage such as drafting TORs and bidding processes. The system they developed and demonstrated can manage these issues effectively.
Regarding whether People's Party council candidates could work with a governor from another party, Mr. Chaiwat said cooperation has been demonstrated continuously. However, as he stated, they want Bangkok residents to choose the city agenda presented by the People's Party gubernatorial candidate: to make Bangkok simpler, a city of welfare, reduced inequality, and open opportunities for residents. To push these agendas forward, both the governor and council candidates from the People's Party should be elected.
Asked if starting a new administration would be daunting, he said they have an action plan for all 50 districts. Their council candidates have engaged with residents in all 50 districts, presenting their agenda, and they are ready to start work immediately.
On campaign billboards, Mr. Chaiwat confirmed it was intentional. Their slogan is “Simple Bangkok,” so to show this simplicity immediately, they decided not to have campaign billboards for the People's Party governor candidate. However, they maintain council candidate billboards, one for each of the 50 districts, to avoid public confusion. They plan to reduce the number of billboards to perhaps only one or two times the number of polling stations.
“As for the governor, there is already significant media coverage. So Bangkok voters who intend to choose me probably will not decide based on the number of billboards. Moreover, billboards installed during the rainy season obstruct views and complicate daily life and travel. We do not want to be a burden. We want to make Bangkok simpler and show sincerity in this regard.”
When asked if he was concerned about having no governor campaign billboards, Mr. Chaiwat replied that they have compensated by installing vinyl banners in community areas where elderly residents can see them. These feature both the governor and council candidates together. They also conduct door-to-door outreach with leaflets for the elderly, so there is no problem in this aspect.