On may 22nd 2014 soldiers kidnapped Chadchart Sittipunt, then Thailand’s transport minister, detaining him and other cabinet members in an undisclosed location for a week while army generals seized power in a coup. Eight years later to the day, Mr Chadchart was elected governor of Bangkok, the country’s capital, by a landslide—he won 52% of the vote. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.Your browser does not support the element.Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskAmong his rivals was Aswin Kwanmuang, the incumbent, who was appointed by the junta in 2016. With a mere 8% of votes, Mr Aswin took a humiliating fifth. Though he ran as an independent, he was seen as the preferred candidate of Palang Pracharat (ppp), the army’s proxy party. The ppp has run the country since 2019, when the junta tried to give itself a sheen of democracy by holding elections. The Bangkok vote was widely regarded as a referendum on the government of the prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, the senior general who seized power eight years ago. It was the last one before a general election, which must be called by next March. Mr Chadchart’s election may mark a turning-point in Thai politics. The last two decades have seen vicious fights between conservative, pro-army “yellow shirt” royalists and pro-democracy “red shirts” and student protesters, which have sometimes tipped over into violence. Mr Chadchart used to belong to the latter camp, as a member of Pheu Thai, the party of Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist former prime minister. But he now styles himself a moderate. His technocratic background (he is a former engineering professor), friendly manner and promise to govern from the middle appealed to both red and yellow shirts. His victory suggests Bangkokians are ready to “move on” from the political strife of the past two decades, says Stithorn Thananithichot of King Prajadhipok’s Institute, a Thai think-tank.Whether the rest of the country is ready for Mr Chadchart’s new, conciliatory style of politics remains unclear. Seeing the overwhelming support for Mr Chadchart in Bangkok, Mr Thaksin predicts a landslide victory for his Pheu Thai party at the general election. His optimism may be premature. Many yellow shirts voted for Mr Chadchart precisely because he distanced himself from his old party, which they loathe. Two important parties in the governing coalition—the pro-army ppp and Bum Jai Thai—did not contest the election. The latter, which won 10% of the vote in 2019, is popular in rural areas. Yet conservatives must still be nervy. The ppp probably did not contest the governorship because it suspected the party would flop, Prajak Kongkirati of Thammasat University in Bangkok said at a post-election talk. Indeed, the party won just two of 50 seats in elections to the city council held the same day. By contrast, Pheu Thai and Move Forward, a social-democratic party popular with young people, won a combined 34 seats. It did not help that many conservative parties fought each other in the governor’s race.No one in the ruling coalition will be more worried than Mr Prayuth. He has led the country for eight years, first as junta leader, then as prime minister after the constitution was rewritten to prolong his rule. Yet he has little to show for it, and his popularity is low and falling further. Conservatives must hope that Mr Chadchart is content with his new job. ■This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Chadchart topping”From the May 28th 2022 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contents Explore the edition