Move Forward Wins Election, Leader Begun Coalition Talks

The Election Commission has announced that Move Forward has won the election with a total of 151 seats, although the final results won’t be published for another 5 days. Move Forward’s leader Pita has said that he is ready to take over as premier and has already spoken to Pheu Thai’s Paetongtarn and has approached 8 parties. He currently has 309 parliamentarians in his coalition but another 77 are needed to avoid the need for support from the military-aligned senate for the coalition’s preferred PM.

• Pita said that he wants to form a government as soon as possible, which if he achieves would take away the uncertainty of weeks of negotiations. A panel will be created for coalition talks. He also stated that the days of military coups in Thailand are over. But he will push for changes to the laws against insulting the monarchy.
• Pheu Thai was in second place with 141 seats, Bhumjaithai on 71, pro-military PPRP 40, UTN 36 and the Democrats 25. Smaller parties gained 28 seats.
• Turnout was a record 75.22% up from 2011’s 75.03%.