Two parties claim right to lead after 'inconsistent' Thai elections

Worries over polling data as election commission refuses to declare official results

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Bangkok
Mon 25 Mar 2019 13.26 GMT

Thai politics has descended into chaos after its first election since a 2014 coup, as two parties claimed the right to govern, the electoral commission refused to announce the official result and concerns were raised over irregular polling data.

Unofficial results from Sunday’s election indicated that the pro-military Phalang Pracharat party outperformed low expectations to win the most votes, while the pro-democracy Pheu Thai party narrowly won the most seats.

“We have the highest vote and following the Thai constitution, whoever has the highest vote will be the one to form government,” said Sonthirat Sonjirawong, the secretary general of Phalang Pracharat, which was formed by the junta as a way to hold on to power through the ballot box and secured about 7.9 million votes nationwide.

Pheu Thai, which was ousted from power in 2014 and is allied with the exiled Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, fell well short of the landslide victory that its supporters had hoped for. Nevertheless, its leader, Sudarat Keyuraphan, said it would try to form a government because it won the most constituency races.

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