Thailand election results 2023: Opposition takes lead as voters reject military rule

Pita Limjaroenrat's Move Forward Party secures highest number of votes

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat repeated his party's intention to reform the country's strict royal insult laws. AFP

Voters in Thailand have signalled their rejection of about 10 years of military-aligned rule as election results on Monday showed backing for two pro-democracy opposition parties.

Thais went to the polls in large numbers on Sunday, with the highest number of votes secured by the Move Forward Party, led by charismatic Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, who wants to reform Thailand's strict royal insult laws.

The progressive party had an almost clean sweep of the capital, Bangkok, followed closely by the populist Pheu Thai party, which had been the dominant force in every Thai election this century.

The election positioned a young generation seeking change against the conservative elite led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

“I feel like my country has [hope] for the future,” Beam, 29, a personal assistant in Bangkok who voted for the MFP and took part in the 2020 protests, told AFP on Monday.

“People have really opened their eyes.”

But in a kingdom where coups and court orders have often trumped the ballot box, she said she feared the result may yet be thwarted.

With ballots counted from 99 per cent of polling stations, Election Commission data showed MFP with 14 million ballots in the popular vote, followed by Pheu Thai with 10.6 million.

A man reads a Thai newspaper featuring front page coverage of Thailand's general election at a newsstand in Bangkok on Monday.

The United Thai Nation party, led by Mr Prayuth — the former army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup — was a distant third with 4.6 million.

While not declaring victory, Mr Limjaroenrat said late on Sunday that a coalition deal was “definitely on the cards”.

But in a sign of the potential flashpoints ahead, he repeated a promise to reform the lese majeste law that invokes harsh prison terms for insulting the monarchy.

This was an issue once deemed untouchable in Thai politics, and which rival opposition party Pheu Thai shied from during the campaign.

“No matter what, we will push for royal lese majeste law reform,” Mr Limjaroenrat said on Sunday.

Pheu Thai

Pheu Thai, which has been the most popular party for two decades, had been hoping for a landslide win that would allow it to lead a coalition.

Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of party patriarch and exiled billionaire Thaksin, congratulated the MFP and signalled a willingness to co-operate in a potential future government.

“We can work together,” she said.

Despite their success, the MFP and Pheu Thai still face many hurdles to secure power due to a junta-written 2017 constitution.

The new prime minister will be chosen jointly by the 500 elected MPs in the lower house, plus 250 senate members appointed by Mr Prayuth's junta.

This stacks the deck in the army's favour.

Adding to the uncertainty, rumours are already swirling that the MFP could be dissolved by court order — the same fate that befell its predecessor, the Future Forward Party, after it performed unexpectedly well at the 2019 elections.

The Election Commission is not expected to officially confirm the final number of seats won by each party for several weeks.

However, early on Monday, it forecast that the MFP and Pheu Thai would each win 112 out of a total of 400 constituency seats.

The MFP would then stand to secure a greater number of the remaining 100 seats to be allocated to parties on a proportional basis.

This election was the first since the 2020 protest that demanded curbs on the power and spending of Thailand's king.

The demonstrations petered out as Covid-19 curbs were imposed and dozens of leaders were arrested, but their energy stoked growing support for the more radical opposition MFP.

“Younger generations these days care about their rights and they will come out to vote,” Mr Limjaroenrat told reporters as he arrived to vote on Sunday.

MFP sought millennial and Gen Z voters, who make up about half the 52 million-strong electorate, but early results indicated their inroads across all demographics.

The party swept Bangkok, capturing every district but one.

It is predicted to also take districts in the staunchly Pheu Thai northern territories — even flipping Thaksin Shinawatra's home district near northern city Chiang Mai.