After more than nine months under their "own government", some red shirts still feel their basic problems have not yet been addressed despite general improvements elsewhere.
Not only structural problems such as poverty and land rights, but also the "justice" that Luen Srisupo, 48, and his red shirt colleagues sought have not been granted by their own government.
Mr Luen was a red shirt leader in Sakon Nakhon. Two years ago, when the red shirts staged rallies in Bangkok and many provinces in the Northeast and North, he was a key speaker in his hometown. And one of his key points was social injustice.
After the Abhisit Vejjajiva government ordered a crackdown, Phang Khon police issued an arrest warrant for Mr Luen, and he is still on the run despite Pheu Thai being in power.
One of his fellow activists Sakrapee Promchart was arrested and imprisoned for eight months. Mr Luen fled as he believed he did nothing wrong and only exercised his freedom of speech.
Now Sakrapee is running for the presidency of Sakon Nakhon provincial administrative organisation, while Mr Luen is just running.
Mr Luen feels he has not been given justice by the Yingluck Shinawatra government, and believes the administration has done nothing to address the problem nationwide since it was voted in on July 3 last year.
In March 2010, Mr Luen spoke at a Chulalongkorn University academic forum and said that while land and water as well as wages and environmental problems were the main agenda for the poor, the grassroots needed to re-prioritise and set politics right first.
"Now we get our own government, but this government has yet to work on the poor agenda. People feel the government might be not different from previous administrations - they do not take care of the core issues of the rural people," said Mr Luen.
"Influential capitalists with local political connections can farm on a much bigger scale on land that was acquired dubiously with the help of the authorities. Double standard remains and realities bite us hard."
Veerasak Saenklang, Khon Kaen chair of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), insists that rural red shirts are satisfied Pheu Thai is in power after years of struggle, but they were getting more disappointed that it does not address the justice problems.
"Lawsuits regarding the political crackdown are still slow. Some detainees have yet to get bail," he said.
"Hundreds of people in each affected province have yet to be freed from non-functional arrest warrants. Also, Jatuporn Prompan was denied MP status. These are the double standards we have been fighting against, but they're still there."
He said villagers have been questioning the ongoing injustice; for example the recent death of elderly lese majeste convict Ampon Tangnoppakul .
"Of course, they don't discuss Section 112 [the lese majeste law] much as they realise it's a sensitive issue involving the revered institution of Thailand. But they feel that the lese majeste lawsuit has been somehow politically abused," said Mr veerasak.
He said villagers were angry senior PAD figure Sondhi Limpthongkul had his lese majeste sentence reduced and was bailed, while Ampon died in a prison hospital.
While red shirts from the Northeast will join the Bangkok commemorations of the Ratchaprasong crackdown today, some prefer to stay put, holding commemorations in their own provinces.
The future of the red shirt movement is not only being debated in the capital - sympathisers and supporters in the provinces are also uncertain of its future.