Panat vowed to serve as an oversight member and admitted he could not compete against the Progressive Social Security group due to lack of political party backing and being outmatched by social media power.
On 13 Oct 2026 GMT+7, Panat Thailuan, chairman of the Thai Labor Union Council and former Social Security board member, told Thairath TV's "Open Mouth" program that his team lost the Social Security board election due to insufficient votes. He attributed this to the absence of political party support, adding that about 1 million votes out of nearly 25 million insured employees was very low turnout. He challenged the Progressive Social Security group, who promised change, by asking what they intended to change given they had been on the board already.
"I want to ask about the other side trying to bring Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit in as board advisor and attempting to paint me as a villain. I have never complained about this," Panat said. Panat confirmed that besides lacking political party backing, factors such as insured workers' homes being flooded prevented voting. Importantly, his group is not skilled in social media; even if they managed about 300,000 votes, they would still lose because they lacked political party campaign support. The picture was clear as their opponents had MPs campaigning for them.
When asked if his own interviews contributed to his group's defeat and enabled the Progressive Social Security group to win by a landslide, Panat responded that it showed they feared him and had to mobilize voters. He said he would now use his influence to serve as opposition, overseeing the new Social Security board's work.
Panat stated he was not boasting but considered himself the top figure in the labor sector, with 53 years of experience in all roles, including senator and deputy chair of the World Workers’ Congress, since the Social Security Office lacked even computers. Regarding criticisms over calendar giveaways, he explained he received 200,000 copies from the 5 million produced by the Social Security Office. He expressed frustration that the other 4 million recipients did not rise to oppose, affirming that people in rural areas still wanted the calendars.
Panat concluded by saying he would wait to see whether the Progressive Social Security team can fulfill their 77 policy promises, noting that they would not even allow Social Security staff to have shirts. He questioned how they could work together under such conditions.