Don Mueang by-election expected to be very tight

[ratcatcher]

Disappointing for the 'reds' I imagine there will be much wailing, hair tearing and gnashing of teeth in certain quarters this evening.

Well doneTaenkhun. Congratulations.

Condolences to Yuranan for a fight well fought.

The writing is on the wall.

[scorecard]

Disappointing for the 'reds' I imagine there will be much wailing, hair tearing and gnashing of teeth in certain quarters this evening.

Well doneTaenkhun. Congratulations.

Condolences to Yuranan for a fight well fought.

The writing is on the wall.

Agree, but wait 24 hours for the multiple red claims of counting mistakes, breaches of election laws etc etc.

[steveromagnino]

It's mighty close, so I am not sure this is much an indicator on the state of Thai politics nationally, Don Muang voters probably do remember that certain politicians were on the ground trying to help while others weren't (or aren't even really from DM).

Sam Yuranant was always an odd choice, a more lazy and less productive candidate would be hard to find; what has he ever done as a politician? As a 'dara' sure...famous. But as a politician? No track record, just a handsome face. A true yes man indeed, but in this case, had PT put up a proper candidate I think they would have walked away with the win....putting up Sam with no real support....it's a bit like the run for governor, wrong candidate and no support makes life tricky to the candidate to win.

[iancnx]

Robby, thanks for the updates

Yup, thanks Robby, nice one

[iancnx]

All eyes on the news in the morning..... TV forum gonna be busy tomorrow !

[Robby nz]

So Steve they should have put up the power pole again, right.

But consider as I said it is not just a win but a swing from PT to the Dems of more than 10,000 votes, as I said quite a percentage of around 64,000 voters.

Is this swing because of the candidate as you assert or could it possibly be a swing against PT as a party?

The DM voters are urban rather than rural and have greater access to media than their rural counterparts.

This gives them greater access to news and social comment and I would think they cant help but see what PT are up to with things like the rice scheme and what PT and the reds are doing in attempting to restrict free speech by threats, intimidation and actions as we see in Lampang and Chaing Mai.

Out of 4 by elections held so far the Dems have won 3 (and if I understand correctly all 3 were previously held by PT) against one won my PT and that in Chaing Mai with a reduced majority.

Could this be a sign of country wide dissatisfaction with PT and if so does it go deep enough to change the result of a national election?

[GentlemanJim]

PTP will cry foul. the question is just how many fouls will they try and call. PTP lawyers will be V busy at the moment!

[longway]

So Steve they should have put up the power pole again, right.

But consider as I said it is not just a win but a swing from PT to the Dems of more than 10,000 votes, as I said quite a percentage of around 64,000 voters.

Is this swing because of the candidate as you assert or could it possibly be a swing against PT as a party?

The DM voters are urban rather than rural and have greater access to media than their rural counterparts.

This gives them greater access to news and social comment and I would think they cant help but see what PT are up to with things like the rice scheme and what PT and the reds are doing in attempting to restrict free speech by threats, intimidation and actions as we see in Lampang and Chaing Mai.

Out of 4 by elections held so far the Dems have won 3 (and if I understand correctly all 3 were previously held by PT) against one won my PT and that in Chaing Mai with a reduced majority.

Could this be a sign of country wide dissatisfaction with PT and if so does it go deep enough to change the result of a national election?

Its looks as if the Dem vote held firm to its usual level with an extra 6-7% whereas the PT support has withered on the wine.

To start the unwarranted speculation I would say that this is something that could be roughly indicative of a national trend. In the first election after the coup that incarnation of the TRT mustered about 35% (including the BJT faction), so that would indicate its firm base level of support; the 48% in the last election includes swing and possibly abstaining voters, who could easily vanish over night as they have done here.

Its a wake up call to the PT that it should not be so arrogant and try to do a good job instead of messing around, same message applies to the dems.

Edited June 16, 2013 by longway

[bigbamboo]

Losing elections they are expected to win is getting to be a habit for the PTP. The Big Boss will not be a happy bunny today.

Tomorrow could be very interesting. Hold on to your hats everyone..... and in some cases your heads.

Edited June 16, 2013 by bigbamboo

[hellodolly]

So Steve they should have put up the power pole again, right.

But consider as I said it is not just a win but a swing from PT to the Dems of more than 10,000 votes, as I said quite a percentage of around 64,000 voters.

Is this swing because of the candidate as you assert or could it possibly be a swing against PT as a party?

The DM voters are urban rather than rural and have greater access to media than their rural counterparts.

This gives them greater access to news and social comment and I would think they cant help but see what PT are up to with things like the rice scheme and what PT and the reds are doing in attempting to restrict free speech by threats, intimidation and actions as we see in Lampang and Chaing Mai.

Out of 4 by elections held so far the Dems have won 3 (and if I understand correctly all 3 were previously held by PT) against one won my PT and that in Chaing Mai with a reduced majority.

Could this be a sign of country wide dissatisfaction with PT and if so does it go deep enough to change the result of a national election?

I definable believe it is a sign of change as to the way people see the Government. If the PTP hope to win the next election they will have to come up with new policies. Not sure if Thaksin will allow that. As it stands now we can see it is the more educated districts swinging to the Democrats side. But the areas with inferior schooling in an already inferior school system are as yet not able to see what is going on and will still vote PTP red shirt.

At the rate the government is going now it will be a resounding defeat for them if they wait until the full term to call election. They must make some honest intelligent changes or they will be voted out of office. They have the time the question is do they have the smarts and if they do will Thaksin let them.

Edited June 16, 2013 by hellodolly