PHOTO: Getty Images.
In Thailand’s first elections since the military coup in 2014 held on March 24, 2019, the Palang Pracharat party has taken an unexpected lead.
With about 90% of the votes counted, the Palang Pracharat party had 7.6 million votes – half a million more than the opposition Pheu Thai. A new party, Future Forward, had scooped up nearly 4.8 million votes, especially with young voters.
Pheu Thai is linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose loyalists have won every election since 2001. Preliminary results show that Pheu Thai has won the most seats in the lower house with 120 out of 350 being elected; a further 150 seats will be allocated under a complicated formula according to each party’s share of the nation vote.
Palang Pracharat’s lead means that current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general who led the coup which ousted former PM Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014, is hoping to extend his hold on power. This result is unexpected, with the Palang Pracharat party initially predicted by many to come third.
More than 50 million people were eligible to vote, but turnout was reportedly just 64%, according to AFP news agency.
Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn issued a statement on the eve of the election which said the role of leaders is to stop “bad people” from gaining power and causing chaos.
This general election is seen by many as a contest between pro-military parties and allies of Mr. Thaksin. Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a conviction for abuse of power. But he still has a significant following, largely among rural and less affluent voters.
The military junta introduced a constitution which was approved by a referendum, which requires a 250-seat senate to be appointed by the military. The 500-member lower house and the senate together will elect a prime minister, who requires a simple majority vote (376 votes) to be appointed. Assuming that the senate backs the same candidate, General Prayuth would only need 126 lower house votes to take office. The governing party or coalition can also appoint a non-MP as prime minister.
The new constitution also imposes a limit on the number of seats any one party can take, regardless of the number of votes won. In addition, any future government is constitutionally bound the follow the military’s 20-year plan for Thailand.
Thailand’s Election Commission said it would announce the final results on Monday.
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
