Former Bangkok governor Bhichit Rattakul has joined the team of Chadchart Sittipunt as he campaigns for the Bangkok governor election.
Mr Chadchart, who is running in the next gubernatorial race as an independent, unveiled Mr Bhichit, 75, as a member of his canvassing team during a tour of Bang Khunthian district yesterday to observe the sea erosion blighting the area.
Mr Chadchart, a former transport minister under the Pheu Thai Party-led administration in 2012, said he believed Mr Bhichit's experience as former governor would come in handy when shaping his policy.
In 2019, the Supreme Court acquitted Mr Bhichit over the 1995-1997 purchase of overvalued land by City Hall. A former director of Bang Sue district was sentenced to seven years in jail in the case, while Somkad Suebtrakul, Mr Bhichit's former secretary, was jailed for five years. The land was developed into a parking lot for refuse disposal vehicles.
Meanwhile, Mr Chadchart urged the government to organise the Bangkok governor election as soon as possible after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha hinted the poll may be held in the middle of next year.
The incumbent governor, Aswin Kwanmuang, was installed in City Hall's top seat by coup-engineer the National Council for Peace and Order in 2016.
Mr Chadchart said it was time for the governor poll, the last major local election, to be called.
He added that the Bangkok councillor elections were also long overdue as the capital has been left with only 27 active councillors since the coup in 2014.
The former minister suggested the governor and councillor polls be conducted concurrently to save money and create a bigger surge of awareness among voters to boost turnout.
Mr Chadchart decided he will run as an independent because he finds it easier to work without having to consult a party first.
He denied he was contesting as independent because he was at odds with the Pheu Thai Party with whom he began his political career.
Although the past could not be undone, he said he was now able to chart his own future and was anticipating other parties revealing their own candidates for the election.
Last week, the coalition Democrat Party declared it will field Suchatvee Suwansawat, a former rector of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), as its candidate.
The main opposition Pheu Thai Party, meanwhile, has made it clear it will not send a candidate.
The ruling Palang Pracharath Party also remains without a potential candidate after Pathum Thani governor Narongsak Osottanakorn, whom the party courted to run on its ticket, turned down their offer.
Mr Narongsak was credited with directing the 2018 rescue of the young "Wild Boars" football team trapped for nearly three weeks in a cave in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
