UPDATE: Partial results from Thailand's general election show pro-military party ahead of the populist party with 89 percent of votes counted
Thailand's vote is viewed as a contest between junta leader Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha – who wants to stay on as the elected leader – and a"democratic front" of anti-junta parties.
A new party, Future Forward, which became popular with young voters, has scooped up nearly 4.8 million votes. The most prominent party of a "democratic front" of anti-junta parties front is Pheu Thai, led by loyalists to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Political parties and their main leaders held their final major rallies on Friday evening in Bangkok.
Prayuth, dressed in a white button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves, pumped his fist into the air as he took the stage at a rally for the military-backed Palang Pracharath party.When it seized power in 2014, the military said it was to end political unrest that had periodically turned violent and disrupted daily life and the economy. The claim has been a major selling point for Prayuth.
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Bangkok on March 24, 2019 during Thailand's general election. Thailand's king made an unexpected call for "security" and "happiness" on the eve of the elections on Saturday, but made no mention of a poll critics say has been engineered to keep the military in power.
The late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in October 2016 after a seven-decade reign, stayed aloof from politics during the last decade of his life when Thailand was rocked by clashes between Bangkok-centred elites and more rural-based populists. Rights groups had called on the military government to allow foreign observers to monitor the election, but only ANFREL was given permission.
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