The remarkable rise of Rukchanok 'Ice' Srinork

No matter what happens on Sunday election, one fact is already sealed.

- Sanitsuda Ekachai

Rukchanok 'Ice' Srinork, a party-list candidate for the People's Party, meets with supporters at an election campaign event in the Samyan area of Bangkok on Jan 25.

(VARUTH HIRUNYATHEP)

Rukchanok “Ice” Srinork, a former lawmaker representing the People's Party, is now the most popular politician in Thai history. The word “female” is almost redundant.

A recent poll ranked the 33-year-old first-time MP as the most popular politician in the country — even ahead of her own party leader. This is unprecedented in a political culture still dominated by dynasties, patronage, and male authority.

Ice Rukchanok, as people call her, is not just popular; she is phenomenal in male-dominated Thai politics. The question is not only why, but also what that popularity really means.

Most Thai female politicians enter politics from privilege: well-connected families, elite schools, established networks and illustrious professional careers. Their campaigns often evolve around gender rights and welfare for women and children, framed in careful, reassuring language.

Ms Rukchanok’s trajectory is just the opposite.

She grew up in a Bangkok slum. Abandoned by her parents. Raised by an informal adoptive family with little money and little affection. Her background reads like a checklist of everything that normally breaks a child: poverty, neglect, stigma. Many of her friends fell into drugs, unwed pregnancies, and crime.

School was her sanctuary. Through sheer effort and grit, she supported herself through high school and, later, university. Her ambition then was simple: to have money, a decent life, and a loving family.

That dream ended when she became politically active.