Who won Thailand’s election? Stand-off as military-backed Palang Pracharat and Shinawatra proxy Pheu Thai both claim victory
- The military-backed Palang Pracharat party wins the popular vote, while the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai wins the most seats
- And the leader of a third party – who goes by the name of ‘Daddy’ – says he is ready to be prime minister. Welcome to Thai politics
After a tumultuous 24 hours – replete with complaints about the election commission’s announcements on the progress of vote counting – official results showed the two top parties were the Palang Pracharat party backed by the military and the Pheu Thai party linked to exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The third-biggest party was the newcomer Future Forward party, which stunned observers by grabbing 80 seats after being founded just last year.
The party’s billionaire leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a former supporter of Thaksin’s bloc and an ardent critic of the junta who has been nicknamed ‘daddy’ by his fans, suggested he was personally ready to be prime minister of a broad pro-democracy coalition. He said his top preference however was for the Pheu Thai leader Sudarat Keyuraphan to assume the role.
Meanwhile, Thaksin, in Hong Kong after attending his youngest daughter’s wedding in the city last Friday, penned a commentary in The New York Times blasting the junta and the election commission for “manipulating” the vote.
“Whether or not the junta leaders now allow the pro-democracy parties to form a government, they will find a way to stay in charge,” he wrote. “They have no shame, and they want to be in power no matter what.”
His main political proxy, Pheu Thai, however, was not taking the result lying down.
It said on account of having won the most numbers of seats it had begun talking to other anti-junta parties about forming a coalition government in the 500-seat parliament.