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Current Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has won a confident victory in Thailand’s early elections on Sunday. His conservative and monarchist Thai Pride Party is expected to win nearly two hundred seats in the five-hundred-seat parliament. Its main challenger, the Thai People’s Party, is expected to finish with around 120 seats, based on a 95% vote count.
“Our people have given us more than we expected this morning. For that, we owe a huge debt to our voters, and we can only repay it by doing our best to bring good things to them and to our country,” the prime minister said in his victory speech.
The People’s Party conceded defeat and announced it would sit in parliament and take on the role of opposition. The party’s predecessor won the 2023 election in vain as it was prevented by conservative forces from forming a government. The party, Forward, was later banned by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that the progressive political grouping wanted to change the extremely strict Sedition Act, which threatens Thailand’s constitutional order.
Is Thai politics stabilising?
In December, Anutin Charnvirakul called early elections to take advantage of the nationalist mood arising from the conflict with Cambodia. The politician himself took power in Thailand after fighting brought down the government led by the Pheu Thai party. Pheu Thai came third in the recent elections.
The official results could take weeks to be published, and coalition talks will be needed to form a new government. In any case, analysts say there is a good chance that a clear victory will stabilise Thai politics after a series of government changes in recent years.
On Sunday, in addition to parliamentary elections, a referendum was held on whether the current constitution should remain in force or whether a new one should be drafted. According to the Election Commission, with 87% turnout, 60% of voters backed a change to the country’s constitution. The text of a possible new constitution will have to be approved in another referendum.