At the 2011 Thai general election Nattawut Saikua was elected Member of Parliament on the winning Pheu Thai Party list. When Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reshuffled her cabinet on 18 January 2012, Nattawut was named Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. After the Cabinet reshuffle on 28 October 2012, he changed to the Ministry of Commerce. He lost his government office during the coup d'état on 22 May 2014. After the coup, he was held in military detention for seven days, alongside other "Red Shirt" leaders.