Thai pro-democracy factions on Tuesday moved to unite and thwart a junta-backed party from forming a government after the first election since a 2014 coup.
The junta appeared to be in pole position to return to power as a civilian administration after preliminary results from Sunday's poll showed its proxy party had secured an unexpected majority of the popular vote.
It is more than 400,000 ballots ahead of Pheu Thai, the populist party toppled from power by the 2014 coup and affiliated with self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Future Forward, a youth-oriented force that took over five million votes, said in a statement late Tuesday that it would join "a coalition of parties opposing the prolonging" of junta rule.Under the stewardship of telegenic leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, Future Forward won 30 constituency seats and is expected to collect more when separate party list seats are announced.
It has proposed Anutin Charnvirakul, 52, for prime minister and trailed promises of boosting rural incomes across the northeast by allowing medicinal cannabis to be grown. The Election Commission is also releasing the results in a staggered fashion, claiming "human error" when reporters pointed out that a handful of provinces returned more ballots than the voter turnout.
The United States said Tuesday that it saw "positive signs" of a return to democracy in the country, but urged a transparent probe of allegedly widespread irregularities.
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