Bangkok governor election seen as national harbinger

By JERRY HARMER
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Nine years after the last elections, and six years after the military government installed its governor, residents of the bustling Thai capital will finally cast their ballots Sunday for the city’s leader in a vote that could tip the balance in favor of the opposition ahead of an approaching general election. The frontrunner in the polls for Bangkok governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, running as an independent, is seen as a proxy for the main opposition party. Asawin Kwanmuang, who was appointed governor in 2016 by the military government then in power, also is running as an independent but is considered a stand-in for the ruling party.