Opposition leads in Thailand's general election: electoral body

BANGKOK, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The opposition parties are expected to win the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament following the general election of Thailand on Sunday, according to unofficial results released by the electoral body.

According to the nearly 99 percent vote counting results updated by the Election Commission early Monday, the two major oppositions, the Move Forward Party and the Pheu Thai Party, were expected to capture 113 and 111 seats respectively out of the 400 constituency seats in the House of Representatives.

The Move Forward Party, with wide support among young voters, also came first in a separate poll to decide the 100 party-list seats in the House with more than 14 million votes ahead of Pheu Thai's 10 million votes.

The Election Commission is yet to announce the preliminary allocation of the 100 party-list seats, but local media calculated that the two opposition parties have secured a simple majority in the lower house of parliament.

More than 52 million Thai citizens were eligible to vote in the election. Under the two-ballot system with one vote for the 400 constituency members of parliament (MPs) and another for their preferred party vying for the 100 party-list MPs, voters will elect a total of 500 members to the House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party (United Thai Nation Party) is projected to take 23 constituency seats but was ranked third in the party-list poll with some 4.6 million votes.

The official election results are pending verification by the Election Commission, which is expected to be due within 60 days. Meanwhile, the political parties are expected to start negotiations to form coalitions as the new prime minister will need to secure a simple majority from the 500 MPs as well as the 250 senators in accordance with the 2017 constitution.