The Asian Network for Free Election (ANFREL) called on the EC to quickly address all of the flaws and issues that had been found in Sunday’s election and disclose the official election outcome to the public, otherwise the election may be regarded as untrustworthy and illegitimate.

The watchdog announced its petition to the EC during a press conference in Bangkok on the disclosure of its interim report on the international election-observation mission to the national election.

Amaël Vier, ANFREL’s programme officer for Capacity Building and International Election Observation, said it was necessary for the EC to address all issues, including doubtful unofficial-votes counting, that both observers and voters had seen emerging from the election process, in order to encourage and rebuild trust in the country’s elections.

“With a voter turnout of just over 65 per cent, it is safe to say that the people still believe in the ballot and the prospect of change it can bring,” Vier said.

“These problems and flaws in the election process are jeopardising the people’s trust in the elections, so the EC should promptly clear up all of the public suspicions before these suspicions escalate into distrust and political conflicts,” he added.

He also highlighted that due to many fundamental democratic shortcomings in the election, ANFREL had concluded in its interim report that Thailand’s 2019 general election was unfair, lacking in transparency and far from a standardised election.

“The ECT [Election Commission of Thailand] could have improved the quality of the process by doing more to disseminate information on the polling procedures, which could have alleviated much of the public’s doubts regarding the process,” he said.

Speaking to a group of students visiting Government House on Tuesday, Prayut all of a sudden told the children that “placing hopes and dreams in the air is like letting a kite fly in the air”.

“We don’t know what it’s going to bring back,” Prayut said. “So, whatever you want, you do it for yourself, no matter what happens or does not happen, with or without a helping hand. Building castles in the air is like letting the kite fly. We don’t know where it will go or whether it will get stuck on some power pole.”

However, when reporters asked if it was his hope and dream to form the government, the PM denied, saying it was not his job as the current PM.

A day after the election, two rival parties – the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai and the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat – were locked in a close battle to form the next government with little difference between the two in terms of strength in Parliament.

While the Phalang Pracharat Party claims it has secured the “popular vote” from people nationwide, Pheu Thai argued that it has won the most number of MP seats and therefore should be invited first to form the government.

With 94 per cent of votes counted yesterday, the pro-junta party grossed 7,939,937 votes nationwide while the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai was second with 7,423,361 votes.

In this election, the total number of votes for each party – irrespective of whether its constituency candidates win or not – are combined to determine how many MPs each party gets in total.

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday announced unofficial results of constituency winners. Pheu Thai Party became the single-largest party with 137 seats from all 350 constituencies. Phalang Pracharat, meanwhile, came second, winning 97 seats.

According to current media calculations, the total number of seats from constituency and party-list, Pheu Thai will get the most number at 137 while Phalang Pracharat will have 119. The EC has not calculated the number of party-list seats.

Though both parties can make equally strong claims to form the government, analysts believe it will not be easy for them to sail through Parliament.

Neither camp seems to be in a position to gather 250 seats and that could lead to a deadlock. Moreover, the number between the two camps is too close.

According to the latest figures, the pro-junta camp can gain around 243 seats with support from parties who are clearly opposed to Pheu Thai.

The Pheu Thai camp can also muster 241 seats with support from anti-junta parties like Future Forward, Seri Ruam Thai and Prachachart.

Pheu Thai yesterday claimed victory in the election after the EC announced the results, saying it had emerged as the number one party with 137 winning constituency candidates.

“Only the winning party should lead the coalition,” its de facto leader Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan said at a press conference yesterday.

“And we will certainly only work with those who oppose the junta’s attempt to retain power.”

She said Pheu Thai had prioritised the public interest over everything else. The party insisted on responding to the people’s demand and restoring democracy, she said, though hinting it would be willing to compromise on the PM candidate.

Pheu Thai secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai said that the party was seeking collaboration with other pro-democracy parties and would discuss the PM candidate to find the best option for the country.

Pheu Thai leaders have also started putting pressure on the junta-appointed Senate, stressing that senators must be free of any influence and respect the people’s voices as reflected in the election.

Later yesterday, Phalang Pracharat Party leader Uttama Savanayana claimed his party had won the right to form the next government as more than 7.9 million people nationwide had voted for them. He also said he was confident his party could successfully form the next government.

“Every vote is counted and has meaning. We have legitimacy, as we have gained the most trusted votes. Our winning results [with the most votes nationwide] show that voters have given us the mandate to govern the country,” he said at a press conference after the EC announced the unofficial results.

“We will ensure that we will do everything according to the mandate of the voters who want us to move the country forward peacefully,” he said.

However, he said his party’s principle is that any party who can gather the most seats in the bloc can form the government.

Uttama said he had begun talking with other parties who have common policies to form a coalition government, but declined to disclose the party names.

A Phalang Pracharat source said negotiations were on with Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul, Chartthai Pattana leader Kanchana Silpa-archa, Suthep Thaugsuban of Action Coalition for Thailand and Suwat Liptapanlop of Chartpattana. The Democrat Party is also negotiating.

Anutin yesterday did not commit to joining any side, saying he would do whatever was in the people’s interests.

“There is still time [to consider]. But I insist I won’t support a PM with a minority government as I think the government after the election should have stability and be able to work for the people,” he added.

He said he had not yet been contacted by anyone or any party.

If Phalang Pracharat can close a deal with those parties, its coalition government would have 243 seats but that would still fall short of ensuring stability for the new government led by Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit (centre L) speaks during a press conference in Bangkok on March 25, 2019 after Thailand’s general election. // AFP PHOTO

Meanwhile, the Future Forward Party celebrated victories in 30 constituencies in its electoral debut. |But its leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, said he had no intentions of bidding for the top job.

“The prime minister must be nominated from the party with the most MPs,” Thanathorn said firmly at a press conference yesterday. “I’m ready to be the PM. But we want to uphold democratic traditions and we won’t bring in any conditions that would lead the country to another deadlock.”

The party’s secretary-general, Piyabutr Sangkanokkul, however, set three conditions for Future Forward to join any coalition – write a new constitution, overturn the junta’s legacy, and reform the Army to prevent coups.

Analysts see Phalang Pracharat, who have nominated Prayut as the next PM, as most likely to form the next government.

“It is the only formula I can see now, judging from the number of MP seats each party has got,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University.

Although the two blocs are very close in terms of numerical strength, Titipol thinks Phalang Pracharat is at an advantage as it has the support of 250 senators in the vote for PM, so, it would not be difficult to attract other small parties in addition to its allies.

In exchange for securing a stable government and Prayut as prime minister, the party would be willing to compromise or sacrifice some important Cabinet positions to those parties invited to join its bloc, Titipol said.

The party could also attract other parties by offering provincial budgets for politicians as well.

However, with the close race between the two blocs, Titipol thinks that with 52 seats, Bhumjaitai’s Anutin could play hard to get for both camps and will have an upper hand in the negotiations.

The New Economics Party of Mingkwan Sangsuwan, who won six seats, could also join either camp, he added.

Titipol still sees some hope for Thai politics even if Pheu Thai becomes an opposition party.

“It will benefit the country if they can play a strong opposition role to scrutinise Prayut’s next government and force Phalang Pracharat to learn what true democracy is,” he added.

Instead of sporting the names of political bigwigs, Future Forward’s list has candidates from all kinds of backgrounds, ranging from a labour leader and transgender film director to a silver medallist from the Asian Para Games and a citizen who hails from the Hmong minority.

Wannipa Maison, the secretary-general of Triumph’s labour union, who is also a board member of Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation of Thailand, is ranked third on the list, just after party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and co-founder Piyabutr Saengkanokkul.

“I joined Future Forward because I want to speak up for labourers and defend their rights,” she said.

Wannipa has fought for fair wages for workers, as well as their right to state welfare and leave. As a single mother, she said she realises the difficulties that low-income earners face in raising their children.

“I am determined to push for a tangible response to labourers’ demands once I’m in Parliament,” she said, adding that her aim is to boost the standard of living for low-income earners and give them equal access to state welfare.

Parinya Chuayket Kirirat, who has made a name for himself at several international competitions for the physically challenged, said he appreciated Future Forward’s policies on equality, human dignity and diversity.

“I submitted my profile to the party for a chance to become its MP candidate. I am well accepted and have been given the 23rd spot in the list for party-list candidates,” he announced proudly.

Pocketing more than 5.87 million votes, Future Forward is expected to win about 58 party-list seats.

“I want to represent people with disabilities in Parliament,” Parinya said, as he vowed to fight hard for social development in relation to the physically challenged.

The 24th candidate on Future Forward’s party-list is Nattapon Seubwongsak, a Hmong resident in Tak’s Phop Phra district. Nattapon’s imminent entry in Parliament has caused a sensation in his hometown, because he will unarguably become the first ethnic-Hmong to become an MP in Thai history.

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, who has made a name for herself as film director, said she applied for the party’s membership last year, hoping that she would become the first transgender MP in Thailand. Ranked 9th on the list, Tanawarin believes her hope will soon come true as she thanked her supporters “for believing that Thailand can get better”.

THE INTEGRITY of the Election Commission (EC) has come into question with people asking if the vote tally has been free and fair.

It is also being roasted for confusing and contradictory results released through its Rapid Report system on Sunday night.

A vote tally showing the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat beating former coalition leader Pheu Thai raised many eyebrows and triggered queries on issues such as votes that far exceeded the turnout in many constituencies and the unusually high count of spoiled ballots – 2 million. There was also public frustration at the agency’s decision to postpone the announcement of the poll results to Monday, backtracking on its earlier promise to complete 95 per cent of vote counting by Sunday evening.

The public was also not amused when EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong quipped he could not tell how many voters had turned up because he did not have a “calculator” at his disposal.

The top hashtags trending on Twitter with over 1.4 million tweets were “EC Busted” and “Election Fraud 2019”. As of 7pm yesterday, about 600,000 people had signed a change.org petition to have the election commissioners removed for failing to hold a free and fair election.

Meanwhile, the EC put the criticism down to misunderstandings, claiming that there were human errors in the unofficial poll results issued via its Rapid Report system.

As for areas where the turnout and vote tally did not add up, EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma blamed the discrepancies on officials entering incorrect numbers in the system. He said official reports from all constituencies would be handed over to the EC today and the data made available by Friday, though official results will only be released within May 9.

EC warns on speculation

As for media speculation over the number of seats won by each party, Jarungvith warned that these figures might not match the reality. He said seat allocations could not be finalised until the EC has cleared all irregularities and complaints, and held by-elections if necessary.

“The party-list MPs can change all the time until then,” Jarungvith said. As for the ballots from advance voting in New Zealand, which missed Sunday’s counting, Jarungvith said the EC has yet to make a decision on this matter.

The ballots were delivered to the EC yesterday.

The Democrats, considered unbeatable in Trang’s Constituency No 1, the home province of its revered former leader Chuan Leekpai, were beaten by the Phalang Pracharat Party, whose candidate Niphan Sirithorn, a former governor of the southern province, snatched it from Democrat veteran Sukij Attopakorn.

Niphan garnered 37,849 votes, according to unofficial estimates, to Sukij’s 36,297.

Constituency 1 was regarded the “capital” of the Democrat Party. Sukij attributed his defeat to several factors but said the main factor was a party formed by former Democrats snatched away a lot of his votes, handing the victory to the Phalang Pracharat candidate.

Chuan, who twice served as prime minister, is greatly admired and no Democrat candidate who contested with his blessing could have lost in earlier days.

A dejected Sukij said yesterday that he would wash his hands of politics.

The Democrat Party also suffered reverses in Phuket, where it surrendered its monopoly, losing two House seats to the junta-aligned Phalang Pracharat.

The unofficial tally gave Phalang Pracharat’s Sutha Prateep na Thalang the victory in Constituency 1 with 32,338 votes. He beat Democrat Rewat Areerob, who got 25,198 votes.

The voter turnout was 70.80 per cent.

In Constituency 2, Natthee Thinsakhu of Phalang Pracharat beat Democrat Chaiyos Panyawai by 26,787 votes to 23,492.

Voter turnout was 72.57 per cent.

Another Democrat heavyweight biting the dust was Warong Dechgitvigrom, in his stronghold Phitsanulok, beaten by Future Forward novice Pradipat Santipada.

Warong blamed his party’s wrong strategies for the defeat.

Before Warong spoke to reporters at the party office in Phitsanulok, he posted a message on his Facebook wall, blaming former Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva for the humiliating defeat.

Without naming any names in the post, Warong made it obvious he was referring to Abhist.

Abhisit resigned as Democrat leader on Sunday night after he learned that his party had got fewer than 100 House seats. According to unofficial results yesterday, the party managed to get only 55 MPs elected.

When Abhisit was re-elected Democrat leader after overcoming a challenge from Warong, he promised to resign if the party failed to win at least 100 MP seats.

In the post, Warong said the captain had made many mistakes in steering the Democrat ship.

“This time, the ship did not just have ruptures or a damaged hull, but the entire ship sank, becoming a wreckage.

Warong said the captain had made wrong decisions in setting the ship’s course.

“He did not fight with the old enemy but he made a new enemy of someone he should have allied with. He played the game of others while we did not have enough force. So he infuriated the audience who have the power to vote. Eventually, the people punished us,” Warong said in the post.

In Chon Buri, influential politician Ittipol Kunplome suffered a shock defeat at the hands of a lesser-known Future Forward Party candidate.

Ittipol and two other Phalang Pracharat Party candidates allied with him were beaten by three Future Forward candidates in what were seen as David vs Goliath fights.

Because of his influence, Ittipol, the former mayor of Pattaya City, was assigned to be Chon Buri election director and tasked with managing the campaigns in constituencies 5, 7 and 8.

Ittipol ran in Constituency 6, Phansak Ketwattha in Constituency 5 and Poramet Ngampichet in Constituency 7.

All three constituencies were captured by Future Forward candidates.

The Kunplome family is influential in the eastern seaboard region, especially Chon Buri. The Prayut Cabinet earlier appointed Ittipol’s brother, Sontaya Kunplome, as an adviser to the prime minister.

Interestingly the Phalang Pracharat won in constituencies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 but these constituencies were not under Ittipol.

Political observers believe Ittipol and his two candidates were beaten by the Future Forward candidates because Ittipol underestimated the pull of his rivals and his overconfidence led to complacency in campaigning.

In Chiang Rai, two long-time champions of the Pheu Thai Party were beaten by new faces fielded by Future Forward Party.

In Constituency 1, Pheu Thai’s Samart Kaewmeechai, who has served several terms as MP, was toppled by Future Forward’s Ekkapop Pianpiset in a close contest.

Ekkapop, who had resigned his position as a doctor at a private hospital in Chiang Rai to contest the election, got 28,916 votes while Samart received 27,048.

Another veteran politician in the same constituency, Phalang Pracharat’s Ratana Jongsutthamanee, came third with 26,745 votes.

In Constituency 6 of the province, Future Forward’s Phiradej Khamsamut beat long-standing Pheu Thai MP Itthidej Kaewluang.

Phiradej received 22,742 votes while Itthidejl got 16,170.

Phiradej was a businessman who ran a hotel and a restaurant in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, and was also involved in the real-estate business before joining Future Forward.

He said he had not expected his victory because the constituency had a veteran politician with a strong political base.

Now that he had won, he said would do his best as an MP.

In Khon Kaen, two veteran former MPs of the Pheu Thai were beaten by candidates of Future Forward and Phalang Pracharat.

According to unofficial results announced yesterday morning, Jakkarin Patdamrongjit of the Pheu Thai lost to little-known Thitinan Saengnak of Future Forward.

Thitinan got 36,680 votes and Jakkarin 27,773 votes.

Jakkarin congratulated Thitinan when they met at the Khon Kaen election office.

In Constituency 2, Orn-anong Sarapol of the Pheu Thai, who had won the seat there several times was beaten by Wattana Changlao of Phalang Pracharat.

Wattana, also a veteran politician, got 44,090 votes compared to 33,094 for On-anong.

A little-known candidate of Future Forward, Sanchai Thakong, got 21,139 votes.