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The Democrats ran a very poor campaign, analysts say. They were weak in marketing, communications and team and their main ally was crushed by Phue Thai.

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What went wrong?

One day after the Democrats crushing defeat in the general election, caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva quit his position as leader of the party.

"I think that a good leader of an organisation must take responsibility," he said. "So, today I decided to resign as the party leader."

He said he would continue as an MP and he admitted that his party badly needed to review its strategies.

Many political observers and Democrat politicians agree.  They say there were four reasons for the party's defeat: a poor marketing effort, a feeble communications strategy, Pheu Thai's success in isolating the Bhumjaithai Party in the race, and the Democrats lack of teamwork during the campaign.

In terms of marketing, the Democrats were slow to kick off their campaign. From the start of the campaigning period, they were hammered with criticism from the Pheu Thai party and the red shirt movement that they were responsible for the deaths of 92 people during the dispersal of red shirt protesters in 2011.

Worse yet, analysts say, they didn’t fight back until it was too late. The Democrats finally addressed the allegations during a major campaign event on June 23 at the Ratchaprasong intersection only ten days before the election.

As for its communications strategy, the party had no plan for how to communicate directly with the public. Mr Abhisit was the party's only main communicator.

Pheu Thai successfully sidelined the Bhumjaithai Party by announcing that it had severed its ties with the party, painting it as a key ally of the Democrats. It also told voters that voting for Bhumjaithai would not be different than voting for the party that killed the people.

The Democrats were also short on teamwork. Mr Abhisit, for example, wrote his own speeches, with very little support from aides or writers.
 
Adapted from a story in today's Bangkok Post by Manop Thip-Osod

crushing – very bad or severe เด็ดขาด,ซึ่งชี้ขาด
defeat – a loss ความพ่ายแพ้
caretaker – in charge for a short time, until a new leader or government is chosen รักษาการ
take responsibility  – to say or admit you are the cause of something, usually something bad แสดงความรับผิดชอบ
resign – to state formally that you are leaving a job ลาออก
admit – to agree that something is true, especially when you are unhappy, sorry or surprised about it  ยอมรับ
strategy– a plan or method for achieving something, especially over a long period of time ยุทธวิธี, แผนการ 
observer – a person who watches and analyses a situation ผู้สังเกตการณ์
feeble – very weak อ่อนกำลัง, อ่อนแรง
isolate – to set apart from; to disconnect from แยกออกมา ตั้งอยู่เดี่ยวๆ
lack of  – not having much or enough of something  ขาด
campaign – a planned series of activities designed to persuade voters to vote for a particular candidate or political party การรณรงค์หาสียง
kick off – to begin an event; to launch เริ่มต้น, เริ่มทำ
hammer – to criticise someone or something severely โจมตี, วิจารณ์
criticism – comments that show that you think something is wrong or bad การวิจารณ์
movement – a group of people who share the same aim and work together to achieve it การเคลื่อนไหวเพื่อวัตถุประสงค์ทางการเมือง
dispersal – (of a crowd of people) the process of causing to separate and leave in different directions  การสลายฝูงชน
protester – someone who shows that they disagree with something by standing somewhere, shouting, carrying signs, etc  ผู้ต่อต้าน, ผู้ประท้วง
analyst – a person whose job involves examining facts or materials in order to give an opinion on them  นักวิเคราะห์
address – to deal with a problem จัดการปัญหา
allegation – an accusation; a statement that someone has done something wrong or illegal even though this has not been proved ข้อกล่าวหา
intersection – a place where roads, lines, etc., join or cross each other สี่แยก
sideline – to cause something or someone to become less important or not to be used
sever – to break or separate, especially by cutting ตัดขาด
ties – relations; connections ความสัมพันธ์
key – very important ที่สำคัญ
ally – a person, group, organisation or country who helps and supports another person, group, organisation or country คนกลุ่มหรือประเทศที่อยู่ในกลุ่มเดียวกัน
aide – someone whose job is to help another person in their work ผู้ช่วย

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