Thai opposition action General Election Victory by the Forward Party; Coalition Negotiations

According to preliminary results announced by the Thai national election commission on Monday after counting 100% of the votes, the opposition Move Forward Party has won the most seats in the parliament as a result of the general election and has already started coalition talks to form a new government.

BANGKOK: According to preliminary results announced by the Thai national election commission on Monday after counting 100% of the votes, the opposition Move Forward Party has won the most seats in the parliament as a result of the general election and has already started coalition talks to form a new government.

The election commission emphasised that the comprehensive verification of the validity of the vote in each of the 400 voting districts will come after the announcement of the final results of Sunday’s elections. According to Thai law, the formal process might take up to 60 days to complete.

In the lower chamber of the Thai parliament, the chamber of Representatives, Pita Limjaroenrat’s Move Forward Party is predicted to win 151 of the 500 seats. The main opposition party in the nation, Pheu Thai, of which Paetongtarn Shinawatra is a member, comes in second place behind Pita’s party with 141 seats.

The United Thai Nation Party, led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and the Palang Pracharath Party, both military-aligned parties in the present administration, have lost a significant portion of the vote and gained just 36 and 40 seats, respectively.

Move Forward’s leader said that he was prepared to begin negotiations with other parties to create a coalition government and that he would be open to serving as Thailand’s next prime minister.

“To build a coalition, I’ve already been in touch with five political groups. Pheu Thai is what this is first and foremost. During our conversations, we made Paetongtarn Shinawatra aware of our desire to establish the government with Pheu Thai and four other parties from the bloc that was in opposition during the last session of the parliament, Pita stated.

Although the head of the cabinet is chosen jointly by the House of Representatives and the 250-seat Senate, which has been entirely appointed by the military government and is therefore unlikely to support an opposition candidate, it is unclear whether the opposition will be successful in electing Thailand’s new prime minister at the same time.

The electoral commission said that 67 parties participated in the general election in Thailand on Sunday, with a turnout of 75.22 percent.