For superstitious Thais, a lot of factors go into determining fortunes — hence why expert astrologers are needed to help everything from names to founding times. For the newly formed People’s Party (PP), successor to the Move Forward Party, some may start wondering whether now is the time to question if the spiritual consultants had gotten something wrong. Not much has gone right for the party since its formation back in August.

First, the party had lost multiple local races back in September. Then, on Sunday, elections for chairman of the Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) were held in three provinces: Udon Thani, Petchaburi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. The People’s Party (PP) dealt another heavy defeat in their quest to win the race in Udon Thani. (For those unfamiliar with Thailand’s byzantine system for local governance, each province has two top officials in parallel roles: one elected and one appointed. While the provincial governor is selected by the Ministry of Interior, the PAO Chairman is elected by voters.)

On one hand, the party’s defeat in Udon Thani should not be a surprise. Udon Thani is considered a key capital city of the Thaksin Shinawatra-supporting red shirt movement. There had been some warning signs for the Pheu Thai Party in the 2023 election, when the party, which previously won all the seats province-wide, lost a few to now defunct Move Forward and the Thai Sang Thai Party. But Pheu Thai had still won a solid 41 percent of the vote in 2023 and 7 out of 10 parliamentary seats.

Click here for the full piece at Thai Enquirer.