 |
Thai Rak Thai Gets 238 Parliamentary Seats
Thailand's most-popular Thai Rak Thai Party ("Thai Loves Thai") gets 238 parliamentary seats in the future 500-member House of Representatives, the lower chamber, well ahead of other parties in the general election, according to latest-released figures of an unofficial vote-counting.
The Nation Group-Tammasart-ITV results also found the ruling Democrat Party, arch- rival of the Thai Rak Thai Party, catches the second place with 125 slots.
The New Aspiration Party, a potential Thai Rak Thai ally, ranked the third with 38 seats, followed by Chart Thai, 36 and Chart Pattana, 29. The rest seats are shared by some small parties.
Sources from Thai Rak Thai Party said this morning that the winning party would begin talks today with potential parties over the formation of a new coalition parliament.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire politician and Thai Rak Thai leader is expected to announce a "loose" government formation as soon as possible. The line-up should be taking shape by the end of the day.
"Any party joining our coalition will have to adjust its policy to confirm with us, " said a cheerful Thaksin.
New Aspiration and Chart Thai were being tipped as likely partners, though Thaksin is unwilling to confirm it openly at the present time, analysts said.
Together, the three parties will control over 300 seats of the House, which is enough to form a stable government for completing a full four-year term.
Under Thailand's new constitution, a censure motion against the prime minister requires the support of 200 lawmakers. If Thaksin can command the support of more than 300 members of parliament, he could have no worries of a censure motion.
In This Section
|