Notwithstanding the ongoing political shenanigans by appointed agencies to shape final outcomes after the May 14 poll, Thailand already will never be the same again. The Move Forward Party's (MFP) victory as the largest winning side, with 151 out of 500 parliamentary seats, is profound but not unprecedented. Together with the Pheu Thai Party's 141 MPs, these two opposition parties are unwittingly sending a message to each other and to the broader political establishment that the curve of Thai history is shifting tectonically. Failing to grasp and adjust to this evolving tide of history could marginalise Pheu Thai and challenge the establishment to its core foundations.
That the MFP was able to widen and deepen its base despite having been dissolved three years earlier as the Future Forward Party is a feat that is hard to overstate. But it was not the first time that a young, new party stormed the electoral arena and left its competitors in the dust. Pheu Thai's original vehicle, the Thai Rak Thai Party, was the first mover in this direction, headed at the time by Thaksin Shinawatra, Pheu Thai's controversial and self-exiled patriarch.
