BANGKOK: Seven political parties formed a coalition in Thailand on Wednesday, vowing to thwart a military-backed proxy in a bid to end years of junta rule following the country’s first election since a 2014 coup.

A junta-aligned party and its main rival have both claimed the right to govern the country after Sunday’s vote, prompting a political standoff.

Questions over irregularities are swirling following invalidated ballots and accusations of skewed numbers.

Pheu Thai, affiliated with self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, joined forces with six other parties in a bid to halt military-backed factions from leading the country.

“We want to stop the regime from hanging onto power,” Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate Sudarat Keyuraphan told reporters.

“Pro-democracy parties received the most trust and consensus by the people,” she added, conceding that final results have not yet been released.

Thailand has been ruled by a junta since a 2014 putsch led by General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the prime ministerial candidate for the Phalang Pracharat Party.

But Phalang Pracharat stunned the pro-democracy camp by winning the popular vote on Sunday with 7.6 million ballots, according to preliminary results.

Its main rival Pheu Thai got 400,000 fewer votes, but is now aiming to take the majority of seats in the lower house with its newly-formed coalition.

The seven-party bloc claimed it would take 255 out of the 500 lower house seats that are up for grabs, but with all official results yet to be confirmed the numbers are not ironclad.

Pheu Thai is linked to Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, whose administration was ousted in the 2014 coup.

Though Thaksin fled abroad in 2008 to avoid charges he says are politically motivated, he looms large over Thai politics.

A clearer picture of the lower house could emerge as early as Friday when more comprehensive figures are expected to be released.

But Pheu Thai still cannot elect a prime minister without commanding more than half — or 376 — of all 750 seats in the combined lower and upper houses.

The balance of power is stacked in the junta’s favour thanks to a charter it drafted creating 250 military-appointed upper house seats.

That means non-military parties like Pheu Thai need an avalanche of votes in order to elect a prime minister.

The coalition formed on Wednesday does not include two other high-profile parties — Bhumjaithai and the Democrat Party — which together have around 70 seats so far and whose allegiances are still up for grabs.

Phalang Pracharat is expected to seek its own allied bloc.

Sunday’s election had been repeatedly delayed and was seen as a test for Thailand’s tattered democracy, which has seen at least 12 coups since 1932.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2019