INTRODUCTION

On 14 May 2023, the Move Forward Party won the General Election in Thailand with 151 seats and the votes of over 14 million Thais. This was an unexpected victory, even to the party's leadership.

Key to the Move Forward Party's victory was political fandom, in the manifestation of Dom Som. This term refers to the supporters attached to the Move Forward Party and its leader Pita Limjaroenrat. “Dom” is the abbreviation of “Fandom” and “Som” is orange, the colour of the Move Forward Party. The fandom phenomenon has long existed in different industries such as music, movies and sports; political fandom is however relatively new to Thailand. In the same way as sports fans engage with their teams or pop-culture fans engage with celebrities, political fans have a strong emotional attachment to a politician or a political party (Erikson 2008). It includes aspects of affection and activities on an individual or community level (Dean 2017).

Thailand's political fans actively participated in offline and online activities, beyond the conventional form of political support. The Dom Som promoted the Move Forward Party by creating hashtags, editing viral videos, liking and sharing content and casting Pita as the protagonist of a fictional narrative. They also discredited other parties or candidates by creating memes, finding digital footprints or trolling on social media. Election campaigning turned into a pop-culture battle, as illustrated by the social buzz over a particular choc mint drink endorsed by Paetongtarn Shinawatra versus the orange-black coffee endorsed by Pita.

This transcendence of politics into pop culture, where celebrity status and fandom can capture the popular imagination led virtually all political parties to pursue it in order to increase their popularity during the 2023 General Election. Nonetheless, it was the Move Forward Party's political fandom strategy that proved most effective. This research addresses how Move Forward Party's leader and prime minister candidate Pita Limjaroenrat was able to achieve celebrity status, while the party itself managed to establish a strong fandom that helped clinch the elections. From policy formulation to communication and marketing of candidates, the Move Forward Party was able to affect the perception and behaviour of voters through its fandom strategy.