A tough nut to crack

The People's Party's (PP) poor showing in the May 11 municipal elections may have confirmed a failure that's becoming more apparent - to end the country's long-entrenched patronage system.

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Winning only a fraction of the municipal polls was an embarrassing setback in the eyes of many observers. The municipalities are the lowest level of all local elections.

The PP has fared disappointingly in other local elections — the tambon administrative organisations (TAO) and the provincial administrative organisations (PAO) — in these past months, according to a political analyst.

It managed to garner only one PAO chairman victory in Lamphun while pulling in a small number of PAO and TAO councillor seats.

On May 11, polls were held across 2,463 municipalities nationwide: 33 Nakhon municipalities, 213 Muang municipalities, and 2,217 tambon municipalities.

There were 4,558 mayoral candidates and 60,515 candidates for municipal council seats. The polls elected 2,128 mayors and 33,346 municipal councillors to fill seats left vacant by those who completed their terms on March 27.

The PP fielded 15 mayoral candidates in Nakhon municipality elections nationwide, but they all suffered defeats.

Only five of its mayoral candidates won in Muang municipality elections, while nine of its mayoral candidates won in tambon municipalities — results that fell far below the party's expectations.

According to noted political scientists, the outcome of the municipal polls was highly indicative of an unchanged status quo.