Sunday’s vote in Thailand was the first of its kind since the military coup in 2014, in which the armed forces seized control of the Southeast Asian country. The election has been heavily criticised by international observers and election watchdogs alike, who allege foul play was involved. Critics fear the vote count was heavily tilted in favour of a party close to one of the country’s ruling generals.
Disgruntled Thais have vented their angst on social media and dubbed the election “CheatingElection19.”
The country’s Electoral Commission has not been available to comment but has previously declined to comment on accusations of cheating, reports Aljazeera.
While the election was hoped to end more than a decade of political turmoil in Thailand, there has been persistent confusion about the results following the vote.
An Asian election monitor has claimed the messy ballot-counting protest has created mistrust and confusion in the aftermath of the vote.
When will the Thai election results be announced?
While the official election results aren’t due for weeks, some parties have already declared victory.
A pro-army party has declared victory and announced it won’t accept anyone but the previous military government leader, Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister.
But an opposition “democratic front” party has claimed its rallied enough coalition partners to form a government.
On Tuesday Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections made the following statement in which it flagged people’s mistrust of the election process: “The environment at large is heavily tilted to benefit the military junta,” Amael Vier, an official of the civil society group, told a news briefing.
“A lot of people still express distrust towards the electoral process.”
Monitor group, We Watch sent 4,000 observers to 72 provinces for the elections and released a statement noting it had “many doubts” related to the vote count.
What happens next?
While Thailand awaits the final results of the vote count, the party backing military government leader Prayuth, has already said it is gathering coalition partners to form a government.
But the main opposition party Pheu Thai has made it clear it’s not happy with the results and has claimed were are “irregularities.”
The group said they are considering legal challenges and will also put together a coalition government.
On Friday the commission will release vote tallies for each constituency which will determine the allocation of party seats.
But it could be weeks before its clear whether there are enough seats to form a stable government.
Meanwhile military leader Prayuth has announced he plans to continue his work as prime minister but would not try to form a new government until there was a ”new government legally under the constitution.”