BANGKOK, March 29 (TNA) – The military-backed Palang
Pracharath Party (PPRP) confirms it has secured sufficient number of MPs to
form a coalition government but will not reveal it until the official election
results are announced in May.
Uttama Savayanaya, leader of the PPRP which wins the most
popular votes in the general election on Sunday, said after a party’s meeting
on Thursday that it was premature to announce its coalition.
Earlier on Wednesday, PPRP’s opponent Pheu Thai Party
declared victory and claimed the right to form the government out of its
highest numbers of constituency lawmakers. Pheu Thai also announced its
coalition of seven parties with at least 255 MPs of the 500-seat lower house.
Uttama said while continuing its bid to lead the next
government his party would not rush to name the parties Phalang Pracharath had
been in talks with.
PPRP released a three-point statement on its stance, he
said: first, the party upheld the principle of constitution monarchy; second,
all political parties must heed people’s decision; and third, the PPRP would
reveal its bid to form a coalition when election results were finalized.
Secretary-general of the PPRP Sontirat Sontijirawong
rejected allegations by the Pheu Thai Party that it had tried to lobby for
supports from MPs-elect of other parties.
Meanwhile, leader of the Future Forward Party, one of Pheu
Thai allies, has slammed the Election Commission (EC) for creating confusion
over the election results.
Thanathorn Jungrungreungkit called on the EC to reveal the
vote counts of each constituency and how to determine party-list MPs of each
party.
The mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, which
was used in this election for the first time in Thailand, stipulates that 350
MPS are directly elected in single-member constituencies while the remaining
150 come from party-lists which involve a complicated calculation.
Since the Sunday’s election, many media outlets have come up
with total seats of each party based on unofficial results, but the numbers are
different.
If there were any signs of irregularities, the EC should
allow recounts, he said.
On Thursday, the EC released unofficial results of popular
vote with all ballots counted, showing the PPRP wins 8,433,137 votes while Pheu
Thai Party has 7,920,630 votes.
The EC has said it will announce the full official results
of election on May 9 which is within the deadline set under the new
Constitution and related laws. Until the
date, the EC will need to review over 100 complaints against party candidates,
as it could result in disqualifications or by-elections. (TNA)
