South Africa: Thai Military Party Leads Vote, With Prayuth Set to Keep Power By Bloomberg
Palang Pracharath won 7.7 million votes with 94 percent counted, according to unofficial results posted on the Election Commission’s Facebook page. Pheu Thai, a political party linked to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, came in second with 7.23 million votes. The Election Commission plans to announce seat totals at 2 p.m. on Monday, after delaying the initial schedule from Sunday.
Questions are being raised about the credibility of the vote and the next administration is likely to be unstable, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the head of Future Forward, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday. The 40-year-old scion of a billionaire family, whose party did surprisingly well, has vowed to rewrite the military-drafted constitution.
“This will leave the pro-military government with a large, strong opposition that’s led by Pheu Thai and Future Forward — both staunch critics of the junta,” said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate professor in politics at Mahidol University. “It’ll be difficult for them to pass legislation, and Prayuth might not be able to handle that pressure.”
“We still stick to this rule and it has been like this in the past,” she told reporters before results came in, adding that she hoped the appointed Senate would respect the votes of Thai citizens. The next prime minister needs 367 votes in the bicameral National Assembly, which consists of the Senate and a 500-member House of Representatives. The Election Commission has until May 9 to submit official results, after which lawmakers will pick a prime minister.
More recently Thaksin has sought to show he’s close to the monarchy. A party linked to him nominated Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya as its prime ministerial candidate, only for King Maha Vajiralongkorn to reject the move. A court later disbanded the party, hurting his election strategy.
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