A clear message has emerged from Sunday's Bangkok council elections - neither the yellow shirts nor the red shirts are likely to be able to use street protests as a springboard to alter the course of mainstream politics.
Even though a significant number of Bangkok voters are from the urban middle class, seen as a core group for the yellow-shirt movement, the New Politics Party suffered a shattering defeat at the local poll. The NPP was unable to secure a seat in the Bangkok Metropolitan Council and 36 district councils.
In spite of a campaign to woo support for the yellow shirts, the votes cast for the NPP hovered in the hundreds in most polling stations.
The NPP might have high hopes to build a mass movement based on idealism and morality. But history shows no Thai political party could sustain itself and thrive as a moral high horse.
The Palang Dharma Party, led by yellow-shirt leader Chamlong Srimuang, collapsed in 1996 after some excitement over the movement built on the Buddhist morals of the Santi Asoke sect had dissipated.
Time and again voters have opted to cast their ballots on a basis of pragmatism, not idealism. For the Bangkok poll, the yellow shirts did not turn out to support the NPP. Likewise the red shirts failed to show up for the Pheu Thai Party. In several supposedly red-dominated areas, such as Klong Toei and Bang Na, the Democrats claimed victory.
Many political commentators agree that votes in Sunday's poll reflect the strongholds of respective parties. And with a low turnout of about 42 per cent, votes were believed to mirror the partisan line rather than the voice of the silent majority or the undecided.
Based on the unofficial count, the outcome was like a replay of the 2006 poll. In that year, the Democrats won 40 Bangkok Metropolitan Council seats.
Although the ruling party gained five BMC seats in the latest poll, this was attributed to more seats being allotted for population growth.
The main opposition party secured 15 BMC seats, about the same number as the last poll. The only difference was an independent candidate who won a seat in Lak Si district.
Around mid-term before the city poll, five city councillors, from Bang Na, Don Muang, Bang Bon, Bang Khunthien and Taling Chan defected from Pheu Thai to the ruling party. The party-hopping happened because of administrative expediency in the running of the city.
Even after switching loyalty, former Pheu Thai candidates won as Democrats in four of five districts, which reflected their individual popularity and/or strength. The main opposition party was only able to retain Don Muang district after these defections.
In the election for district councils, the Democrats won 210 seats and secured every seat in 27 of 36 districts. The main opposition party secured 39 seats, with complete domination in five districts.
Independent candidates got seven seats in Phra Nakhon, with three remaining districts split between the Democrats and the Pheu Thai Party.
Like the city ballot outcome, votes for district councillors were almost the same as the outcome in 2006. In the last poll, the Democrats won 203 district seats.
Regardless of fear of dire consequences from polarisation, the June by-election in Bangkok Constituency 6 and the city poll have shown the country is fully ready for the next general election.