And ballot-buying, a standing problem, was minimal. Pichit, who had run against Krisda four years ago, wasted no time settling into office. On his first day on the job, he inspected water pumping stations in parts of Bangkok most vulnerable to flooding. He announced a public hearing on his proposed monorail system and said he hoped to get it running within his four-year term. But with traffic congestion and pollution growing, and infrastructure buckling, Bangkok may need more radical solutions than a monorail system.
Problem is, Bangkok governors lack the authority to redeem their city.
Many important decisions about urban development are not made in City Hall but by the federal government. Poor coordination and communication among ministries and departments, combined with corruption, often hamper decision-making. Voters seemed to see the PDP as a key culprit in this state of affairs. The party's well-publicized withdrawal from the cabinet after a censure debate against some government ministers may have backfired. The voters gave the party a big slap in the face.