Transperson to run for PM in Thai polls

BANGKOK: As Pinit Ngarmpring, he was a CEO and sports promoter, well known in the world of Thai soccer. Now, under her preferred new name of Pauline Ngarmpring, she’s pursuing a bid to become the country’s first transgender prime minister.

The 52-year-old is one of three candidates put forward by a political party for the post in next month’s general election.

She says she wants her nomination to bring hope to the marginalised and to open up political space for future generations of LGBT people. With over a month to go before the March 24 polling day, she campaigned this week in one of Bangkok’s more infamous nightlife areas.

Many vulnerable or exploited people work in this twilight zone of go-go bars, cheap hotels and massage parlours. It’s exactly the constituency the Mahachon party seeks to represent, and she’s eager to hear their concerns.

“Our welfare, mostly. Health,” masseuse Wassana Sorsawang says are her concerns, as she stands outside a shop in an alley off the street. AP