TopTrendThai reported that the hashtag “1 in 3.9 million” (I’m one of 3.9 million votes) was the most used hashtag by Thai twitter users on Friday.

The hashtag related to the number of popular votes the Democrat won in Sunday’s election.

The second to fourth ranked hashtags on Friday are also about the Democrats, which are #prachatipat in Thai language [Democrats], #Hua Jai Sri Fah [Blue at heart] to represent the party’s colour, and #Democrats [English language].

The top trending hashtag was interpreted to mean that the 3.9 million voters supported Abhisit’s political stance to not support General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power as prime minister.

Abhisit declared before the election that he would neither support Prayut to continue his power after the election nor corrupted politicians.

He resigned as party leader after the Democrats faced huge losses in Sunday’s poll.

Democrat Party members are now split between joining the Phalang Pracharat-led coalition government or become an independent opposition party.

Earlier on Friday, Parit Wacharasindhu, a new generation Democrat Party member, suggested his party should play a “constructive” opposition role in line with the party’s ideology rather than join any coalition government.

“As a party member and a representative of the 3.9 million popular votes we won, I think we need to be honest to our ideology,” Parit, who is a nephew of Abhisit, said in a Facebook Live interview with Suthichai Yoon.

The political landscape significantly shifted with this month’s election, the first after five years of junta rule, with plenty of fresh faces among winning MPs. Analysts say much of the credit goes to the seven million-plus first-time voters who were fed up with the staid status quo and wanted change.

The Future Forward Party, which made an impressive debut, finishing as the third-most popular choice with more than 6.2 million votes and more than 80 House seats, is composed entirely of new faces.

The Phalang Pracharat Party, also newly formed but specifically seeking to keep junta chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha in the Prime Minister’s Office, did best of all the parties, garnering 8.4 million votes and 118 seats.

While strengthened by heavyweight veterans it lured from other parties, Phalang Pracharat is also poised to introduce dozens of fresh faces to Parliament.

Co-founder Taopiphob Limjittrakorn, 29, whose personal appeal might stem from his aim to legalise home-brewed beer, helped lead the party to a knockout electoral performance over the Democrats, the country’s oldest political party.

Taopiphob, chosen to represent Bangkok’s Klongsan district, will soon be talking serious beer in the House.

“I think many people, especially the younger generations, got really bored with the conservative older generation of politicians as well as the junta regime,” Taopiphob told The Nation Weekend. “They hope the younger candidates with their bold ambition can reshape the political landscape.

“One of our central policies is to amend any laws that support monopoly trade, including the one on home-made craft beer. I personally will stop brewing beer at home to avoid having a conflict of interest,” he said.

“I plan to promote Thai craft beer globally and make Thailand the craft-beer hub of Asia. And I’ll upgrade the global reputation of Thai rice wine too.”

Taopiphob also wants to turn Klongsan, which is known for its creative community, into something called “Town All”. He envisions residents from all walks of life and all ages brainstorming and agreeing on ideas to develop the district with more creative activities – and build themselves a small park while they’re at it.

Future Forward’s stunning premiere included winning at least 58 party-list seats in the House, and doing so without a single big-name political veteran. Its candidates came from a wide variety of backgrounds, among them a labour leader, a transgender film director and a Hmong Paralympics silver medallist.

The labour leader is Wannipa Maison, secretary-general of the union at Triumph and a director of the Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation of Thailand. She came in third on the party-list victors, right behind heartthrob party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and co-founder Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a Thammasat University law graduate.

“I joined Future Forward because I want to speak up for labourers and defend their rights,” Wannipa said. Those rights include fair wages, state welfare and adequate leave. A single mother, she realises the difficulties that low-income people face raising children.

“I am determined to push for tangible responses to labourers’ demands once I’m in Parliament.”

Award winning filmmaker and LGBTQ activist Tanwarin Sukkhapisit ranked ninth on the party-list winners, becoming the country’s first transgender MP. She thanked supporters “for believing that Thailand can get better”.

Acknowledging Thailand’s “progressive” stance on LGBTQ rights, Tanwarin hopes to gain more rights for LGBTQ people and make this the first country in Southeast Asia to legally recognise same-sex civil partnerships.

The incumbent Cabinet has already approved the Life Partnership Bill, but the incoming government must ratify it.

“I’d like to push forward by amending Article 148 of the law to make same-sex marriage legal and give couples benefits equal to those in traditional man-woman marriages,” Tanwarin told The Nation Weekend. “We’re all humans and we’re all equal.”

Civil servants at the Culture Ministry, which banned Tanwarit’s feature gay-oriented film “Insects in the Backyard”, might find she’s their new boss if Future Forward becomes part of the government. She’d love to have the minister’s portfolio.

Set to fight for freedom

Tanwarit, who also a former president of the Thai Film Directors Association, also hopes to amend laws that limit filmmakers’ freedom of expression.

“I hope to upgrade our arts and culture so they can compete digitally with those of other countries,” she said. “We have high-quality cultural content, but we need hi-tech weapons to compete.”

Future Forward’s stated goal of enshrining human rights is reflected in the fact it fielded seven candidates from ethnic minorities. Only two won part-list seats – Nattapon Seub-wongsak, a Hmong ready to represent Tak’s Phop Phra district, and Manop Keereepuwadol, a Karen from Chiang Rai. Nattapon’s win was a sensation in his hometown because, if the vote tally is confirmed and his party survives a legal challenge, he will become Thailand’s first-ever ethnic Hmong MP.

“I hope to protect the rights of all ethnic people,” Nattaphon said. “The first priority is to amend laws that restrict their rights. The party wants to find a way to let ethnic people continue living in state forests legally while at the same protecting nature in a sustainable way.

“We also plan to establish a special ‘ethnic culture zone’ for preserving our ancestral wisdom and promoting ethnic tourism,” Nattapon said.

Parinya Chuayket Kirirat, well regarded internationally for his successes in athletic competitions for the physically challenged, backs Future Forward policies on equality, human dignity and diversity. Twenty-third among its party-list champions, the silver medallist in the Asian Paralympics is set to become Thailand’s first disabled MP.

“I hope I can help raise disabled people’s rights to meet universal standards,” the 43-year-old champion said. “And I want to support sportsmen with disabilities over the long term, including with financing, education and other forms of welfare.”

Phalang Pracharat’s party-list candidate Watanya Wongopasi, left, and Thanikan Pornpongsaroj, candidate for Bangkok’s Bang Sue constituency, are among the fresh face MPs in this election. Nation/Prasert Thepsri

Young businesswomen Thanikan Pornpongsaroj and Pada Vorakanon carried Phalang Pracharat to victory in two Bangkok constituencies, each bettering a Democrat heavyweight.

Thanikan said she intended to use her management skills to bridge the gap between younger and older members of Parliament.

“As a newcomer I’ll learn from the experienced politicians, and in turn I’ll introduce new technology to modernise politics,” the 38-year-old elected in Bangsue district told The Nation Weekend.

“Technology will play a crucial role in driving the nation forward, so we need to utilise it to connect Thailand to the new global paradigm.

“I’m also interested in women’s issues and hope to drive party policy on that, especially women’s safety. Starting in Bangkok, we should have CCTV everywhere and light up the city for better security. And I want to create a mobile app with which women can check to see if specific locations are safe.”

Yada Varakanon, 41, a Yale University graduate in environmental issues, would like to make Parliament the world’s first plastics-free legislative assembly and tackle PM2.5 pollution with long-term management.

“I want to propose a ‘One District, One Park’ scheme so the capital can breathe better and I’ll support every effort to introduce electric public buses.” She aims to reduce waste by giving every district its own recycling facility, offering cash rebates for cutting back on trash.

With around 55 seats won in Sunday’s election, the Democrats are seen as holding the balance of power: they can choose between joining forces with a Pheu Thai-led bloc or siding with the Phalang Pracharat-led camp.

“As a party member and a representative of the 3.9 million popular votes we won, I think we need to be honest to our ideology,” Parit, who is a nephew of ex-party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, said in a Facebook Live interview with Suthichai Yoon on Friday.

Parit was referring to Abhisit’s declaration before the election that the party would neither support General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power as prime minister nor corrupt politicians.

Abhisit resigned as party leader after the Democrats faced huge losses in Sunday’s poll.

Parit said the opposition role he was recommending did not mean the party would obstruct the country’s efforts to move forward; some observers have suggested attempts to form a coalition government may not bear fruit without the Democrats joining either Pheu Thai or Phalang Pracharat.

He personally said a bloc that could successfully gather a majority or more than 250 seats was entitled to be the next government, whether or not that party is the Democrats’ old rival Pheu Thai.

The Pheu Thai-led bloc now claims to have at least 255 seats and to be in the best position to form the next government.

Phalang Pracharat, meanwhile, is still seeking confirmed coalition partners because some parties like the Democrats and Bhumjaithai, who would win 52 seats, remain undecided.

Parit said the Democrats did not need to be part of a coalition government, no matter if it were led by Pheu Thai or Phalang Pracharat, but they would vote in parliament for good policies or those which tallied with their own and against any issue that contradicts with the party’s policies.

“At the same time we will play a role in scrutinising the government,” he added.

Parit’s suggestion came one hour before Democrat Party executives were scheduled to meet at 10am on Friday to discuss whether to join any camp.

However, Parit said that the party should leave the decision to its 100,000-plus members around the country by conducting a primary vote.

IN A BID to ease mounting pressure from politicians and the public, the Election Commission (EC) yesterday released the unofficial election results, revealing the votes each party had gained, but continued to come under criticism over discrepancies in the figures.

The agency had previously planned to release the results today, saying it would wait for reports from each constituency and work on the data before making it public. But following heavy criticism of lack of transparency, the EC decided to reveal the results yesterday at a hastily called press conference.

The figures showed that the pro-junta party Phalang Pracharat had won the popular vote with more than 8.4 million while Pheu Thai came second with 7.9 million votes.

Future Forward was third with 6.2 million votes, beating the Democrats who got just 3.9 million.

Bhumjaithai was fifth with 3.7 million votes.

The voter turnout was at 74.7 per cent with 38.2 million of the more than 51 million eligible voters taking part in the election, the EC said.

While the EC may have thought the early announcement would ward off pressure, criticism and the threat of impeachment, public anger continued unabated along with questions of the poll agency’s credibility as the numbers did not add up.

The high voter turnout, for instance, was widely questioned.

The EC had declared on Sunday after 90 per cent of votes had been counted that 65.96 per cent of the eligible voters had exercised their voting rights. The figure yesterday shot up by over 8 per cent to 74.69, raising the question of how the figure could rise this high after just 10 per cent more votes were tallied.

Several other figures shown in the documents provided by the EC were also inconsistent.

The number of eligible voters, which should have been a clear figure even before Sunday’s election, was found to have increased by over 34,000. On Sunday, the EC had said 51,205,624 people were eligible to vote while the figure provided yesterday was 51,239,638.

The media yesterday bombarded the EC with these questions in an online chat room but got no response.

Alerted to the discrepancies, the agency quickly removed all the documents related to yesterday’s announcement from its official website.

Politicians from Future Forward and other parties joined the public in calling on the EC to be transparent and reveal voter turnout and polling numbers from every polling station.

De facto leader of Pheu Thai Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan yesterday also raised doubts on Facebook, questioning the increase in voter numbers.

“After the polling booths were closed, the EC announced that 33,775,230 million people had turned out. Today, they announced the number to be 38,268,375 million,” she wrote. “In four days, 4,493,145 new ballots have emerged.”

Previously, the EC had cited human error for the discrepancies shown in the Rapid Report system and promised the agency would recheck the data before releasing the official election results.

The agency had stressed the current MP seat calculation were merely media speculation. The numbers were subject to change especially if by-elections were called in troubled constituencies.

Senior Democrat politician Thaworn Senneam, who won the MP seat from Songkhla, said the Democrats should join the coalition led by the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat.

“It won the most votes – more than 7.9 million,” he noted, before adding the final decision will be made by the party’s new executive board.

“I believe the [new] party executives will display ‘good etiquette’ when making decisions on important matters involving the party,” he said.

Thaworn met with some 30 fellow Democrats – both winners and losers in Sunday’s election – at a Bangkok hotel yesterday. The meeting was held to discuss the possible reasons why the party won fewer seats than usual in its traditional strongholds of Bangkok and South.

Those present at the meeting also agreed that the decision on who the party will be joining should be made by the new party executives and the winning Democrat candidates, Thaworn said.

However, deputy party spokesman Chao Meekhuat urged the party to respect the over-3 million people who voted for the Democrats last Sunday. He said, it was because of these voters that |the Democrats managed to win |more than 50 seats in the Lower House.

“The party should base its decision on the policy platform of ‘not supporting the succession of dictatorship and corrupt people’,” he said, adding that the promises made during campaigning should also be taken into consideration.

Chao, however, said it was too early to form a new coalition, pointing out that the Election Commission (EC) has yet to release the final results and there is still a possibility of by-elections in some constituencies as the EC is investigating complaints of fraud, Chao said.

He also noted that the EC plans to announce 95 per cent of the election result by May 9, which is still over a month away.

Supreme Commander General Pornpipat Benyasri led Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong, Navy Commander Admiral Luechai Ruddit, Air Force chief ACM Chaiyapruk Didyasarin and National Police chief Chakthip Chaijinda in making the decision even as the tug of war to form the government continues between the pro- and the anti-junta camps.

The Armed Forces have nothing to do with the formation of a new government after the March 24 election and the matter was up to the political parties, Pornpipat said.

“No matter which parties win the race to form the government, the Armed Forces have to serve in accordance with the policy and direction set by that government,” he said. “Our duty is to protect national sovereignty and maintain peace and stability.”

“However, our major concern is how to bring good people to govern the country in accordance with King Rama IX’s supreme philosophy,” Pornpipat said, without elaborating on who might be “good people”.

The commander’s statement was in line with the Royal Household’s statement issued on the eve of election. The statement referred to the late King Rama IX’s speech in December 1969 when the then monarch said: “In national administration, there are both good and bad people. Nobody can make everybody good. To maintain peace in the country, we cannot make everybody good, but we can support good people. We must let good people rule and control bad people, so they have no power.”

Asked for the Armed Forces’ reaction if General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who staged the coup to topple an elected government in 2014, failed to retain his power, Pornpipat said the Armed Forces can serve every kind of government and it not matter who the premier was.

Asked if the pre-cadet school foundation’s decision to strip Thaksin’s honour was connected with his daughter’s wedding ceremony, which was attended by Princess Ubolratana, Pornpipat said he did not want to link the decision with any political matter.

The pro-Shinawatra Thai Raksa Chart Party was dissolved after it proposed Princess Ubolratana, who relinquished her royal status in 1972, as its prime minister candidate.

Thaksin told BBC Thai service recently that he had known the princess for more than 30 years. The nomination of her name for PM candidate was a result of her own good intention to work for the country. He did not want to drag the monarchy into politics.

In a summit on the possible delay in forming a new government, Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), reckoned that ongoing investment projects would not be affected, though prospective investors may delay their decis

“There are two types of investors, those who have already invested and those looking to invest in Thailand,” Supant explained. “Ongoing investments projects would not be scrapped or delayed due to political uncertainty.”

He added that though the private sector is worried about political uncertainties, these worries have yet to translate into tangible losses.

“The only thing is, prospective investors may delay their investment plans and wait until the political situation in Thailand becomes more stable,” he said. “The other worrying factor is that even when the new government is formed, there is no certainty that things will be stable politically.”

Supant explained that since there is no clear election winner, the new government is likely to be unstable and may not survive the full term. This worry may also keep prospective investors away.

Though investments will be delayed, the projects currently being proposed to the Board of Investment (BOI) may increase in the upcoming months, the FTI chief said.

This is because investors can still apply for BOI tax incentives and wait until Thailand’s political landscape is stable before they actually move the money.

Also, he said, domestic consumption may take a hit in the upcoming months, though local spending has remained strong so far.

“Car sales have been performing well in recent months, which is a strong indicator that the manufacturing sector is doing well despite political uncertainty,” he stated.

Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, who serves as assistant managing director of research and analyst of financial institutions at Phatra Securities, said that since no single party has won a majority in Parliament, there is uncertainty because nobody knows which party will form the government or who will become prime minister.

“In the past, we would know immediately after the election what the government would look like,” |he said, adding that this time, no single party has enough seats to form a one-party government. The Election Commission (EC) has said it will announce the official results on May 9.

The other factor contributing to uncertainty is that of senators – who they will be and who will they vote in as the next PM – Pipat said. The list of new senators should be announced on May 12.

Meanwhile, the EC may also disqualify some MPs, leading to by-elections in some constituencies, plus the public may also want to scrutinise the commission.

“We may have to wait until the end of May to find out who will be forming the coalition government and who will be the prime minister. So, investors may also hold back their investment, while consumers may not spend on big items such as cars,” he said.

The new government will also find it difficult to keep the economy revving, as the global economy has been slowing down and growth in many major economies – Europe, US and China – has lost momentum, he said.

This uncertainty is affecting exports and tourism, as Thailand’s export sector has seen a contraction of about 4.5 per cent in the first two months of this year, he said.

On the consumer side, though spending did rise during the elections, it is not certain whether this will be sustained as the price of farm products have not risen much. Drought may also affect the consumption of low-income groups, he said.

However, Stanley Kang, chair of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce, believes the delay in forming a new government will have limited impact.

“At least, Thailand has returned to an elected government,” he said, citing the positive impact that can be expected from an end to military rule.

He also said that foreign investors have experience in Thailand and are familiar with the political landscape here.

Everybody knows that the next government will be a coalition, he said, adding that he hoped the parties develop an understanding before allying to form a government. He said they would not achieve stability if they just rush to form an administration.

Kang added that he expects the new government to accelerate free-trade agreements with trading partners, such as Europe and the bloc under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. He also wants the new government to quickly implement the e-government project to facilitate trade and investment. He suggested that the government deregulate laws and regulations so it is easier to do business and the country’s competitiveness is boosted.