Thanathorn hails local poll results as boost for Progressive Movement, despite losses

Thanathorn spoke on Monday, a day after 42 candidates from the Progressive Movement participated in polls to elect PAO chiefs.

He said their campaigns and actions had not reached enough voters to win, but they had nevertheless gained a total of 2,670,798 votes.

However, 55 Progressive Movement members had won seats on provincial councils in 18 provinces, he said.

Sunday’s local vote for the Progressive Movement almost matched the national vote for Thanathorn’s now-defunct Future Forward Party (FFP) in 2019.

The Progressive Movement gained 17 per cent of votes on Sunday, he said, while FFP garnered 17.65 per cent of the vote at the 2019 general election.

Thanathorn said he was proud of the number of votes won and told supporters to keep their heads up as they would move forward together.