When this gubernatorial race first started, we saw campaigns focus on a wide range of issues.

Chadchart Sittipunt announced over 200 policies addressing everything from flooding and traffic, to improving the local playground and installing more security cameras. Others did the same. Suchatvee Suwansawat came out with similar policies, but with more technology (and lots of abstract stock footage of AI and the metaverse).

This is normal. Campaigns always start very broad, targeting every possible issue. But over the course of the campaign, we learn which issues resonate the most with voters. It becomes clear what the central issue of the race is.

But this never happened. Is the central issue car traffic? Expensive public transit? Disorderly food stalls? Or is it flooding?

Turns out, the central issue is all of the above. Every day, families waste hours waiting in traffic. The BTS is unaffordable for working people. Food stalls clutter the streets. And flooding is a possibility every time it rains. But there’s more. Garbage collection is slow and unreliable. There’s very few public spaces for people to hang out.

The good news is, we have some very good candidates. Chadchart has spent the past few years studying up on the city’s issues and brings with him a diverse team of experts. Meanwhile, Suchatvee is well-meaning and competent. His version of Bangkok would be an efficient and modern smart city. Both of them would be well-equipped to address some of the issues I raised above.

But maybe the issue isn’t that Bangkok has a ton of problems. Maybe the issue is that these problems have never been fixed. Are we doomed to talk about flooding and traffic for the rest of our lives?

We can blame this on the incompetence of previous governors. But that’s only part of the story.

The real problem is a broken system that ensures nothing ever gets done. A broken system that rewards corrupt bureaucrats, big corporations that bribe them, and robs every working family of a fair and decent city.

Construction projects are allowed to go on for years past their deadline. No one dares to collect the daily overdue fines. And when they’re done, the quality is substandard. In the meantime, Bangkokers are left with noise pollution and broken roads.

The BTS is a monopoly and operates like one. It charges ludicrously and the government awards it with a juicy 40 year concession. No governor can fix sky-high ticket prices until they have the courage to deal with this concession head on.

Many families deal with slow and unreliable garbage collection. Meanwhile, big malls get punctual daily trash pickups, with each trip losing the city money. The solution is clear — charge them a higher rate, and use the extra revenue to make trash collection better for everyone else.

It is clear that this city is fundamentally broken.

It can’t even fulfill its basic functions like collecting garbage. Many Bangkokers are living in poverty and barely earn enough to feed themselves. Too many are forced to survive day by day, week by week.

The problems facing Bangkok are too big and structural to be solved through good management alone. We don’t need super engineers who would nibble away at the edges within their confines. We need a fighter who would challenge the limitations and fearlessly push through obstacles, however big they may be.

Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn is the lone candidate willing to do this.

If elected, his tenure will not be easy. These problems are complex, and the system’s beneficiaries will not sit idly by. But many of the problems are straightforward. It doesn’t take a genius to fix them, it takes courage — something which Wiroj has in abundance.

For far too long, this city has only worked for the rich and powerful. With Wiroj as governor, Bangkokers will finally have someone who’s willing to fight for them.

He may not be successful — but as Elizabeth Warren would say — you don’t get what you don’t fight for.