Pro-democracy parties in Thailand pulled to an early lead in Sunday’s parliamentary election, with the preliminary count signaling opposition groups are on course to wrest power from a military-backed government that has ruled for almost a decade.
(Bloomberg) — Pro-democracy parties in Thailand pulled to an early lead in Sunday’s parliamentary election, with the preliminary count signaling opposition groups are on course to wrest power from a military-backed government that has ruled for almost a decade.
About four hours after polling closed, the Pheu Thai party linked to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra was leading the pack with about 30% of votes counted. It has 134 of the combined 500 constituency and party-list seats up for grabs in the lower house, followed closely by the liberal Move Forward party with 115.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter and Pheu Thai’s front-runner for prime minister, urged supporters to be patient, expressing “very high confidence in our victory.” Srettha Thavisin, another nominee for premier, said Pheu Thai “will prioritize talks with pro-democratic parties.” His group has yet to speak with Move Forward, Srettha said.
The centrist Bhumjaithai party — which emerged as a king-maker in the 2019 election on a vow to decriminalize marijuana — is in third place with 65 seats.
While it’s still too soon to call a winner in the vote, the early counts indicate that no single party is yet poised to secure a majority of the vote or form a government outright.
Even a landslide win for pro-democracy parties won’t guarantee a clear path to power: under a constitution promulgated in 2017, the 250 military-appointed senators get to vote alongside the 500 elected lower house members to decide on the next prime minister. Thailand casts two ballots, one in the first-past-the-post race and the other for proportional party representation.
Still, opposition leaders remained confident Sunday evening they can tip the scale and take power from the military-backed coalition.
“Based on the numbers we’re seeing, Pheu Thai and Move Forward and other opposition parties can form a coalition government,” Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat said in a briefing after polls closed, clarifying that no coalition talks are happening yet. “The current opposition parties are the right answer for the people. We’ll stick to that message. There’s no need to include others.”
A pre-election poll by the National Institute of Development Administration showed the Pheu Thai party winning between 164 and 172 seats. The liberal Move Forward party came in second with between 80 and 88 seats, according to the NIDA poll. The ruling military-backed Palang Pracharath party will get between 53 and 61 seats, the survey said.
A separate exit poll by Nation Group showed Pheu Thai winning 32.6% of the constituency vote, while Move Forward had 29.4%, together giving them a slim majority if those results hold. Nation Group’s poll also shows similar results for the party-list votes.
The Election Commission secretary-general told reporters earlier in the day that vote proceeded smoothly, signaling no significant irregularities. Approximately 52 million Thais were eligible to vote, and more than 90% of about 2.3 million people who registered for early polling did so last week.
In addition, some of the top parties had multiple candidates for the job. The Election Commission may take up to two months to confirm the members of the lower house, according to the electoral rules. The joint houses will then convene to pick the country’s next leader.
Read More: Thai Military Rules Out Coup After Vote as Campaigning Ends
–With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen, Pathom Sangwongwanich, Janine Phakdeetham and Cecilia Yap.
(Updates with latest count and remarks from Pheu Thai.)
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