Thais were forecast to have voted in record numbers in the general election, with the Election Commission projecting a turnout of 80% among the 52 million eligible voters
Pro-democracy parties first, Pheu Thai official says of alliance prospectParliament rules skewed in favour of army partiesBANGKOK, May 14 - Thailand's progressive opposition made early headway in a preliminary election vote count on Sunday, with a big lead opening up over conservative parties allied with a military at the heart of government for nearly a decade.
The election commission's running count showed the populist Pheu Thai Party, which together with its previous incarnations has won every election since 2001, out in front in the early stages of the count along with another opposition party, Move Forward, with a quarter of eligible votes counted. Sunday's election pits Move Forward and the billionaire Shinawatra family's Pheu Thai against ruling parties backed by a nexus of old money, conservatives and generals with influence over key institutions involved in two decades of upheaval in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Opposition gains would bring no guarantees that either party would govern, however, even as an alliance, because of parliamentary rules written by the military after the 2014 coup that areElecting a prime minister and forming a government requires the backing of a majority of the lower and upper houses combined and analysts expect weeks of horse-trading before alliances are formed and a prime minister is chosen.
The Senate was appointed by the junta and is expected to vote in favour of parties or blocs allied with the military.Pheu Thai's prime ministerial candidate, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, casts her ballot to vote in the general election at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
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