The dust has finally settled in the Democrat Party. A new party leader, Chalermchai Sri-on, has been elected after two failed attempts to hold a general meeting for the party's leadership election.
But what is being seen in full glare of the public is not a born-again Phoenix. Instead, it is a skeleton of Thailand's oldest party. After the drama at the party's general meeting on Saturday, it appears the party has chosen a dead-end path with a bleak future ahead.
The two election routs in 2019 and May 14 this year, in which the party's House seats shrank from over 100 to 52 and 25 respectively, were maybe just a prelude to worse, as the party appears headed towards an unstoppable free-fall.
Let us pause and think. If Mr Chalermchai was the ideal choice under the present circumstances, why then did veteran Democrat, former leader Chuan Leekpai, nominate Abhisit Vejjajiva as another option in the leadership race?
Had he seen something in Mr Chalermchai's character that he thought is unfit to salvage the party from further decline, so nominated Mr Abhisit, apparently without consulting him?
Mr Abhisit quit as party leader and an MP after the party's poor performance in the 2019 election in which the party won only 52 seats.
Truth be told, Mr Abhisit quit also because most of the MPs wanted to join the coalition led by junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha, which was contrary to his anti-dictatorship principle.
This time, Mr Abhisit announced his resignation from the party, severing his only remaining link. In his parting speech at the general meeting on Saturday, a teary-eyed Mr Abhsit said he had yearned to become a member of the party since he was 11 when, in 1975, he listened to Mr Chuan debate in the parliament.
Leaving the party was a heavy-hearted decision, though he said his "blood is still blue" (the colour of the party) and that he would still come to the party, if one day it needs his help.
The only other potential candidate was Ms Watanya Bunnag, aka Madam Dear, a 39-year-old political rookie who was unqualified to contest the race as she had only recently joined from another party.
Mr Chalermchai received 88.5% of the votes of 260 party members. But that resounding outcome is meaningless for outsiders or the party's former supporters.
Mr Chalermchai has promised to rebuild the party, restore unity, lead the party forward and to uphold the party's principles and ideologies.
But for the detractors and doubters, he is seen as an uninspiring figure, a spent force who does not represent fresh change.
Fresh from breaking his own vow to wash his hands from politics after the May 14th election rout, can he be trusted, as implied by former deputy leader Sathit Pitutecha, even if flip-flopping is not uncommon among politicians?
Sathit Pitutecha, a former deputy leader, also quit as a member. The big question is where the Democrat Party, under Mr Chalermchai's leadership, will position itself in parliamentary politics. Will it become a serious opposition party intent on keeping checks on the government like the Move Forward Party?
Or will it continue to be a pseudo opposition, hoping the Pheu Thai Party will welcome it into the coalition government after 16 Democrat MPs in August voted to approve Srettha Thavisin's premiership nomination in parliament in defiance of the party's resolution to abstain from voting?
The only thing new and fresh about the party under Mr Chalermchai's leadership is that it is not obsessed with the "anti-Thaksin regime" like members of the old guard such as Chuan Leekpai, which positioned the party on the opposite side of Pheu Thai for about two decades like its two predecessor parties, Thai Rak Thai and Palang Prachachon.
Mr Chalermchai's promise to adhere to the party's principles is welcome, but for voters, especially new voters, that won't be enough to attract them. After all, they are abstract things offering them no hope that their lives or the future will improve.
His other promise is to restore unity in the fragmented party. But what transpired at the meeting on Saturday appears to point in the opposite direction.
Mr Abhisit made the unthinkable choice of quitting the party that he had yearned to join since he was a boy; following in his footsteps was former deputy leader Sathit Pitutecha.
Madam Dear, a promising new face in the party and a would-be candidate in the leadership race, was devastated, not because she was found unqualified, but because she was betrayed after being promised support from Mr Chalermchai.
She hinted she might resign if the party does not uphold its principles and ideologies. She joined the Democrats after leaving the Palang Pracharath Party in August last year.
It remains to be seen how many more party members will jump ship. That will make it easier for Mr Chalermchai to restore unity as only the faction loyal to him will stay on.
He could end up with a smaller and more manageable party that can align with other parties, including Pheu Thai.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.