Thailand votes after three leaders in two years

Thailand's Prime Minister and Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul casts his ballot in Thailand's general election at a polling station in Buriram province on February 8, 2026. [AFP]

Thais voted Sunday in an election pitting the popular reformists who came first last time against the conservative who ended up as prime minister, with ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra looming large from his prison cell.

The Southeast Asian nation's next government will need to contend with anaemic economic growth -- the tourism sector vital but arrivals yet to return to their pre-Covid highs.