BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (pic) inched closer to forming a new government after the country’s election commission certified results of the Feb 8 vote, confirming his ruling party’s decisive win over a poll-favorite progressive rival.
Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party won 191 seats to emerge as the single-largest party in the 500-member House of Representatives, the first electoral win for a conservative party in decades. Its chief opponent, the pro-democracy People’s Party, came a distant second with 120 seats.
The official results announced on Wednesday (March) reflect nearly the full makeup of the lower house, after a preliminary tally on the night of the election only captured votes counted at 94% of polling stations.
One constituency seat, which Bhumjaithai won according to preliminary results, remains to be certified.
The Pheu Thai Party, backed by the Shinawatra family, came third with 74 seats, the weakest showing by any party aligned with the clan that dominated elections for nearly two decades.
The addition of Pheu Thai as a key partner of the new Bhumjaithai-led coalition has helped Anutin secure a stable majority and pushed former ally Klatham, with 58 seats, to the sidelines.
The results certification, almost a month after the vote, now sets off a 15-day countdown for the first meeting of the newly elected lower house to pick a new House Speaker. That person will then call another meeting for lawmakers to formally pick a new prime minister, likely by the end of March.
Anutin is expected to receive the support of about 290 lawmakers to stay in power, after recruiting 13 other small parties to join his new coalition.
Bhumjaithai notched a resounding win on a campaign that emphasised national security in the wake of border clashes with Cambodia.
It also pushed economic stimulus and short-term measures to support growth, rather than the more fundamental bureaucratic reforms touted by the People’s Party.
The conservatives’ win was seen as a best-case scenario for financial markets, spooked in recent years by several bouts of political deadlock and turmoil, particularly after the reformist People’s Party’s earlier reincarnation won the 2023 election only to be blocked from power by the royalist conservative establishment.
A fresh government led by Anutin also ensures the status quo, with policy continuity and continued handouts promoted by his party. It also eases the way for a new budget.
Thailand’s benchmark stock index was among the worst performers in the world last year but had rallied strongly since January, though the war in the Middle East sent stocks tumbling roughly 9% over two trading days this week.
The baht has appreciated more than 7% over the past year, a strength policymakers have been trying to temper given the hit to exports and tourism.
Thailand has seen 10 prime ministers since 2005, the last time a single party government was formed. That instability has fostered a similar paralysis in the economy, which has lagged its neighbors despite earlier promise as a regional standout success. - Bloomberg
