Thai PM Candidate Casts Vote in Marijuana-Print Shirt

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s well being minister and hashish advocate Anutin Charnvirakul turned heads throughout Sunday’s election as he arrived to forged his vote at a polling station carrying a darkish shirt with vibrant inexperienced marijuana leaves.

The 56-year-old is the prime ministerial candidate for the Bhumjaithai Occasion, which has campaigned on a promise to advertise medical marijuana after efficiently pushing for the substance to be decriminalised final yr.

With out related rules in place, leisure use surged, angering the Southeast Asian nation’s conservatives. Anutin has promised that if re-elected, he’ll tighten rules to curb leisure use and limit hashish use to medical functions solely.

Anutin flashed a smile as he emerged from a voting sales space and declined to reply reporters’ questions concerning the symbolism of his shirt.

His celebration, which ran on the identical platform within the 2019 election, got here in fifth place then, giving it a place within the present military-backed authorities. It’s more likely to repeat that efficiency this yr.

Polls will shut at 1700 native time (1000 GMT) in Thailand, the place 52 million eligible voters might upset the established order of practically a decade of a authorities backed by the navy, headed by retired basic, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Prayuth faces off in opposition to the populist platform of the opposition Pheu Thai celebration, backed by the billionaire Shinawatra household, which has gained each election in Thailand since 2001.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Modifying by Kanupriya Kapoor)

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