Bangkok: With 94% of the votes counted, the Bhumjaithai Party is leading in the latest unofficial election results, marking a significant political shift.
According to Thai News Agency, the results from the Election Commission website as of 8:53 AM have placed the Bhumjaithai Party in the first position, defying all pre-election predictions.
The Bhumjaithai Party secured a total of 193 seats in the House of Representatives, surpassing all expectations. They won 174 seats in constituencies and 19 in the party-list system, a notable increase from the previous election. The party was in close competition with the People's Party and the Pheu Thai Party.
The People's Party claimed the second position with 118 seats, falling short of earlier predictions. They secured 87 constituency seats and led the party-list seats with 31 in total. They achieved a clean sweep in Bangkok, winning all 33 seats.
In third place, Pheu Thai faced a disappointing outcome. Despite having Yotsanu Wongsawat as their prime ministerial candidate, they ended up with 74 seats, comprising 58 constituency seats and 16 party-list seats. This is their lowest seat count in the past two elections.
The Kla Tham Party emerged fourth, with a total of 58 seats. They were expected to finish lower but showed strong constituency performance, suggesting potential for future coalition government participation.
The Democrat Party, led by the returning Abhisit Vejjajiva, increased their party-list seats from 3 to 12. However, they did not achieve their constituency targets, securing only 22 seats overall and failing to win any in Bangkok for the third consecutive election.
Other parties also saw varied results. Thai Ruam Palang won 6 seats in total, while Palang Pracharath Party and Prachachart Party each claimed 5 seats. The Economic Party secured 3 seats. Pheu Chart Thai, Ruam Thai Sang Chart, Opportunity New, and Thai Sang Thai each won 2 seats. Eight smaller parties received 1 seat each from the party-list system.