Big blow for PP in local polls

Old-school politics still leads the field

- MONGKOL BANGPRAPA

Heavy losses experienced by the People's Party (PP) in Sunday's municipality elections have exposed a potential decline in its popularity, political analysts say.

They said this should serve as a lesson for the party to learn from and better prepare for the general election.

On Sunday, polls were held across 2,463 municipalities nationwide: 33 Nakhon municipalities, 213 Muang municipalities, and 2,217 Tambon municipalities.

There are 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 polls received particular attention from the public with reports suggesting fierce competition in several key battleground areas between candidates from local political clans and those with the support of major parties such as the ruling Pheu Thai Party and the opposition PP.