Is Prayut quiet due to humbleness or unpopularity?

Is it his humbleness and humility, and his dedication to helping the people of Thailand? Or perhaps it’s because polls show that he is trailing other candidates in next year’s prime minister race. Either way, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has spent the month deflecting interviews and political questions.

In recent weeks he’s managed to duck out of most questions from the media, especially those about politics and his future as prime minister. Prayut implied that his spokesperson team would take over any such questions now. So far, the suspended and reinstated prime minister made question-dodging an art form.

When asked about many subjects, he simply refuses to answer. Other topics he said aren’t in his focus as he puts all his attention on the flooding that has plagued much of Thailand. For media questions lucky enough to get an answer, the responses from Prayut have generally been vague or curt.

And sometimes Prayut has given questionable excuses why he can’t answer before hurrying away. He recently declined to respond to the media, saying that he was unable to answer a question because he had a stomach ache.

The prime minister has steadfastly maintained that the upcoming election and party politics are the furthest things from his mind at this point. Prayut has answered questions about reshuffling the cabinet with simple responses like “I haven’t done anything about it,” or “nothing about that now,” or even a blunt “no, no” according to the Bangkok Post.

When he was asked if he would join the Palang Pracharath Party and be one of their candidates for the next president, Prayut vaguely said “whenever that happens,” and another time commented, “I don’t talk politics.” He frequently meets political questions with a shutdown response talking about the current state of Thailand.

“I haven’t thought about that. Let me focus on tackling floods now.”

While his responses are certainly crafted to deflate attention from political races by insisting that he was focused on the tasks at hand to take care of Thailand, there may be another reason PM Prayut has been loath to discuss his position in the election scheduled tentatively for May 7.

The Pheu Thai Party has been pulling way ahead of both Prayut and Palang Pracharath Party. Their candidate, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra’s youngest daughter Paetongtarn, has been polling well and is considered a favourite for prime minister. A recent poll showed her as the second most popular choice for prime minister.

The first? Nobody.