Thoranee Ritteethamrong registered herself for the March 3 Bangkok governor’s election last Friday the final day for applications. She appeared at the City Hall’s Rattanakosin Room in one of her Guanyin-inspired costumes. The outfit featured a white, short-sleeved lace dress, diamond crown and a huge set of jewelry that surrounded her neck, ears, wrists and fingers.
“I have no specific dress theme,” said Thoranee. “I was told by Goddess Guanyin and Mother Earth to dress like this.”
Accompanied by three traditionally clad companions, the 67-year-old independent candidate drew the number 21, which will serve as her signifier throughout the election campaign. However, Thoranee may have trouble measuring up to her fellow candidates in terms of media attention, as rallying was one of the last activities in which she pictured herself engaging.
“I don’t rally, don’t have campaign billboards, don’t anticipate votes,” said Thoranee. “Everything will flow in accordance with the mandate of heaven. But if some media outlets or organizations invite me to herald my policies, I will accept the invitation. But I don’t do roadside rallying.”
Despite her insistence that she was fielded for the election by the mysterious, divine party she simply refers to as “Heaven,” Thoranee did put forth some legitimate policies for the improvement of Bangkok residents’ lives. The seemingly wealthy housewife promised change in pension and social security funds for the elderly, a plan to limit politicians’ exertion of influence on local authorities by obtaining independence from the Ministry of the Interior and a ban on taxpayer-funded foreign trips for bureaucrats.
Thoranee emphasized a bottom-up economic model that involved establishing public-private joint councils to pass any budget plan for a given development project. She believed that the collaboration could strengthen local communities and help them to become self-sustaining.
This time around, Thoranee appears more committed to significant projects than she was four years ago. In 2009, she stated that the governorship was not the purview of politicians, but rather of housewives – who were tasked with cleaning, managing and arranging the home of Bangkok.
Thoranee received a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Chulalongkorn University and a Master’s degree in management from Boston State College. Her main work experience comes from the numerous charity events she has organized, and the time she spent as host of the TV show “Meet the Diplomats.”
This is the third time Thoranee has run for the office of governor as an independent candidate. In 2009, when she claimed to be running as the result of a divine order from the late King Rama V, she received only 1,875 votes. She also ran in 2008, with a similar lack of success.
“Yes, my husband supports me 100%,” insisted Thoranee.
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