Drowsy Bangkok breaks New Politics Party's heart
Did Bangkok speak up? The answer is "Yes" and "No" - meaning the results of the city assembly elections and district councils' elections could be considered a signal from Bangkokians on how they feel about national politics, but the feelings were conveyed in a half-asleep manner.
The low voter turn-out, 42 per cent for the district council election, according to initial reports, means the results, while being a good indicator of what could happen in the capital in the general election, should not have too much read into them.
"Let's go and help Mark [Abhisit]," a voter in Ram-indra told his wife. That kind of motive resonated in many areas elsewhere. Many went out to vote because they liked Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, but others because they wanted to snub him.
City Assembly and district councils elections used to be about personalities and checks and balances. National politics influenced decisions, but historically, even dominant parties in Bangkok during the election periods could not expect a major sweep.
A lot of voters yesterday did not even know the names of their "preferred" choices. Some were overheard trying to find out which candidate was running under which party. That showed "party" is more important than individuals as far as those voters are concerned.
So, what was Bangkok's drowsy message then? If grass-roots canvassing is what city assembly and district councils elections are all about, as was the case previously, then the Democrats have proven better than their key rivals in this aspect. And also, if national politics played a role in the latest elections, the Bangkok public moods have been confirmed to still be in favour of the ruling party.
Pheu Thai will be the far happier of the two "losers". The results underlined considerable presence of "red" support in the capital, albeit mostly on its outskirts. New Politics, the newcomer, however, learned a hard lesson in its first real debut. The yellow-coloured party has failed on two fronts - the battle against the reds and the attempt to present itself as an alternative to the Democrats.
The poor showing by the New Politics Party could be attributed to its fledging canvassing mechanism. It also must have something to do with murky leadership, with admirers of Sondhi Limthongkul uncertain about his commitment to the party after he abandoned its helm. Pheu Thai faced a similar leadership problem, but got away with it thanks to Thaksin Shinawatra's lingering popularity and long-time canvassing machinery.
The troublesome leadership issues of their rivals left the Democrats the only party with a charismatic leader that Bangkokians could cling to. Of course, there were voters yesterday hellbent on snubbing him, but the "Abhisit fever" in the city seemed to deal comfortably with that.
The low turn-out, however, means all three rivals can still have hope. The Democrats can dream of an even better outcome in a general election, but the two losers can take heart in the fact that in most elections with low turn-outs, government candidates always tend to benefit.
Pheu Thai has the right to believe it could be a big difference if more voters show up to overwhelm the advantages of state canvassing. New Politics should have been better prepared and, for its own good, will suspect many voices who mattered failed to play their roles yesterday - and this could be an untapped market in the future.