Thai election: Pheu Thai leads in early counts
Early counts in Thailand’s first election since a 2014 coup, held on March 24, indicated populist-liberal Pheu Thai Party of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra led the polls with 34% of the votes, followed by the military proxy party Phalang Pracharath with 25.5% and the progressive center-left Future Forward Party at 15.1%. The results are based on 35% of votes counted as of 7pm on March 24.
First unofficial results by Thailand’s Election Commission showed that Pheu Thai would be given 125 seats in the Lower House and Phalang Pracharath 89 as of 9.00pm. This was in contrary to an exit poll which indicated that Pheu Thai won 163 seats, while the military proxy party came second at 96 seats.
Either projection would mean that Pheu Thai would lack sufficient votes to form a majority government in its hoped-for “democratic front” with other parties. The pro-democracy parties would need a combined 376 seats in the 500-member House to form a government if all 250 junta-appointed senators, as expected, support Palang Pracharat and the other parties that favour the military.
State broadcaster Thai PBS predicted the Democrat Party would come a distant third with 77 seats, trailed by Bhumjaithai Party with 59 and Future Forward with 40.
About 51 million Thais were eligible to vote. The voter turnout was remarkably high, indicating that the Thai population seems to desire a change in the political direction the country is taking.
The election is the latest chapter in a nearly two-decade struggle between conservative forces including the military and the political concept of Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon who upended tradition-bound Thailand’s politics with a populist political stance.
Early counts in Thailand's first election since a 2014 coup, held on March 24, indicated populist-liberal Pheu Thai Party of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra led the polls with 34% of the votes, followed by the military proxy party Phalang Pracharath with 25.5% and the progressive center-left Future Forward Party at 15.1%. The results are based on 35% of votes counted as of 7pm on March 24. First unofficial results by Thailand’s Election Commission showed that Pheu Thai would be given 125 seats in the Lower House and Phalang Pracharath 89 as of 9.00pm. This was in contrary to...
Early counts in Thailand’s first election since a 2014 coup, held on March 24, indicated populist-liberal Pheu Thai Party of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra led the polls with 34% of the votes, followed by the military proxy party Phalang Pracharath with 25.5% and the progressive center-left Future Forward Party at 15.1%. The results are based on 35% of votes counted as of 7pm on March 24.
First unofficial results by Thailand’s Election Commission showed that Pheu Thai would be given 125 seats in the Lower House and Phalang Pracharath 89 as of 9.00pm. This was in contrary to an exit poll which indicated that Pheu Thai won 163 seats, while the military proxy party came second at 96 seats.
Either projection would mean that Pheu Thai would lack sufficient votes to form a majority government in its hoped-for “democratic front” with other parties. The pro-democracy parties would need a combined 376 seats in the 500-member House to form a government if all 250 junta-appointed senators, as expected, support Palang Pracharat and the other parties that favour the military.
State broadcaster Thai PBS predicted the Democrat Party would come a distant third with 77 seats, trailed by Bhumjaithai Party with 59 and Future Forward with 40.
About 51 million Thais were eligible to vote. The voter turnout was remarkably high, indicating that the Thai population seems to desire a change in the political direction the country is taking.
The election is the latest chapter in a nearly two-decade struggle between conservative forces including the military and the political concept of Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon who upended tradition-bound Thailand’s politics with a populist political stance.
