Do we like Anutin Charnvirakul?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A decent record on Pride, refugee work rights and cannabis, set against a weak rights record and unresolved Senate-rigging questions around his party.
Anutin was born in Bangkok in 1966, the eldest son of a former interior minister who founded a big construction firm. He studied engineering at Hofstra University in the US, worked for Mitsubishi in New York, then ran the family company before moving into politics. He was a deputy health minister in the mid-2000s, was banned from politics for five years when his old party was dissolved, and took over the Bhumjaithai Party in 2012.
He became a household name as health minister from 2019, when his party drove the decriminalisation of cannabis, earning him the tag Thailand's cannabis king. When a later government tightened the rules to medical use, he opposed re-criminalising it. He became prime minister in September 2025 and was re-elected by parliament in March 2026 after his party topped the February poll.
The defining stoush of his time as PM is the Cambodia border fighting. Khaosod English ran the headline “Anutin Rallies Nationalists, Tells Trump to Pressure Cambodia”, and analysts said he leaned on the clashes to build support before the election. Where you land depends on whether you read it as firm defence of Thai soil or as flag-waving politics.
The cloud over him now is the Senate. On 14 September the Election Commission said it would refer 77 people to the Supreme Court over alleged wrongdoing in the 2024 Senate election. Cabinet ministers and party executives were not among the accused, and the presentation did not name Anutin directly. He has denied any involvement. The next day he filed a defamation case against iLaw director Yingcheep Atchanont over remarks linking him to alleged collusion; his lawyer says it is not meant to silence him.
On the harm test, there's nothing like a campaign against LGBTQ+ people. He met Pride delegates at Government House in June to back Bangkok's WorldPride 2030 bid. The mark against him is on rights more broadly: Human Rights Watch says his government has done little to improve rights and reports forced returns of asylum seekers. It also says his party opposes reforming the lese majeste law, and he has said Bhumjaithai won't touch Section 112.
The good stuff is real. HRW called the October 2025 start of legal work rights for Myanmar refugees in border camps a major positive step. In the September floods he toured affected areas and defended handing out his own cash to residents, though locals heckled him and some saw the visits as political.