Thai Elections

Thais waited Monday for the results of an election called a return to democratic rule, but which has been widely criticized as an exercise designed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to entrench his military's stranglehold on power. Preliminary official results released late Sunday showed that with 93 percent of ballots counted the military-backed Phalang Pracharat party was in the lead with about 7.6 million votes, that's short of what would be needed for a majority in parliament. In second place was the Pheu Thai party of former prime minister Vanessa with 7.1 million votes. The campaign was marred by allegations of vote-buying, however, complaints were few on polling day with election observers from Australia, Canada, the United States and the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations on hand.