Chadchart Sittipunt won a second term as Bangkok governor on Sunday with a record-breaking 1.44 million votes, sweeping all 50 of the capital’s districts in a landslide that no rival came close to threatening. Across the Gulf of Thailand, Pattaya Mayor Poramese “Beer” Ngamphichet won re-election by an equally comfortable margin, capping a day of simultaneous local elections in Thailand’s two most politically watched cities.
With 95% of ballots counted at 9:55 p.m., Chadchart held 65.6% of the vote — the highest total ever recorded by a winning Bangkok governor, surpassing even his own landmark result from 2022, when he took office with 1,386,233 votes. His nearest rival, independent candidate Mallika Boonmeetrakul Mahasuk, finished a distant second with around 288,000 votes, or roughly 13% of ballots counted. Chaiwat Sathawornwichit of the People’s Party took third with about 177,000 votes, and Democrat candidate Anucha Burapachaisri finished fourth with around 102,000, according to several news sources.
Chadchart Sittipunt celebrates his re-election as Bangkok governor on the evening of June 28, 2026, after unofficial results confirmed a record-breaking second-term victory. Photo Courtesy: Reuters Connect
Voter turnout in Bangkok reached approximately 50%, down from 60.7% in 2022. Despite the lower participation rate, the sheer scale of Chadchart’s vote total still exceeded what he managed four years ago — a result that points less to voter fatigue and more to how thoroughly concentrated support for the incumbent had become by election day.
The result had been widely expected. Pre-election surveys from multiple polling organizations placed Chadchart between 58% and 72% ahead of all other candidates, with a lead so large that analysts had described the race as largely settled before a single vote was cast. What remained in question was the size of his margin and the political signal it would send — particularly given that the People’s Party had swept all 33 Bangkok constituency seats in February’s national general election.
That result didn’t transfer. Surveys conducted in the weeks before Sunday’s vote found that even a majority of People’s Party voters in Bangkok planned to back Chadchart over their own party’s candidate. Researchers tracking social media conversation between May and June found the five most discussed election topics among Bangkok residents were corruption and transparency, PM2.5 pollution, pavement conditions and cleanliness, cost of living, and flooding and drainage. Those are exactly the issues Chadchart has centered his governing identity around, and they appear to have driven voters to separate their national partisan preferences from their choice at the city level.
Chadchart, a 60-year-old civil engineer and former transport minister who has no party affiliation, resigned as governor on May 18, 2026 to legally qualify for re-election under Thai electoral law. He ran on a platform of more than 250 policies organized around quality of life, livability, economic opportunity, and administrative efficiency. In the Bangkok Metropolitan Council election held simultaneously, the People’s Party won the most seats, claiming 22 of the 50 available, with independent working groups and the Democrat Party also securing significant representation.
In Pattaya, the outcome was even more decisive. Beer received 20,184 votes, beating his closest rival by more than 8,600 ballots, according to official figures from the Vote Pattaya and Pattaya City websites. All 113 polling stations were counted by 10 p.m. His “We Love Pattaya” slate swept the city council race entirely, with all 24 of its candidates winning their seats. Turnout in Pattaya reached 43.24%, with 34,677 of approximately 80,196 registered voters casting ballots.
Beer’s platform centered on 33 policies across three areas — economic development, social and environmental improvement, and technology and city management — built on a campaign of continuity and delivery after four years in office.
Both cities ran their elections under an alcohol ban that ran from 6 p.m. Saturday through 6 p.m. Sunday, with violations carrying penalties of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to 10,000 baht. Polling ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. across both cities without reported incident. Official certification by the Election Commission of Thailand is expected within 30 days.
