Thai PM claims election victory as early results show conservatives ahead

Yahoo via BBC ^ | February 8, 2026 | Jonathan Head

[Steven Scharf]

Thai PM claims election victory as early results show conservatives ahead Jonathan Head - South East Asia correspondent; Thanyarat Doksone Sun, February 8, 2026 at 11:31 AM EST

Prime Minister Anutin Charnavirakul has claimed victory in Thailand's general election, with early vote counts putting his ruling conservatives well ahead of their rivals.

Anutin said his success belonged to "all Thais, no matter whether you voted for us or not", after his party's expected result defied opinion polls that had placed the reformist People's Party ahead.

With 56% of the votes counted, Anutin's Bhumjaithai party projected to win 197 seats in Bangkok's 500-seat parliament, with the People's Party in second place on 110.

People's Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut appeared to concede the election, saying he was ready to serve in opposition if Anutin could form a government.

The election was called after several coalition governments collapsed, giving the country three prime ministers in as many years.

While no party is projected to gain an overall majority, paving the way for coalition talks, Anutin is now almost certain to stay in office.

Elections in Thailand are often unpredictable, and so it proved this time.

This shock result is a huge disappointment for the People's Party, which had expected to improve on its winning performance of three years ago.

But a widely expected "orange wave" of support for its young, idealistic candidates did not materialise.

The party, which won the election in 2023 but was blocked from taking power, found itself pushed into second place by Anutin's pragmatic conservatives.

The reformists will remain in opposition for now. The feared crisis that could have occurred had they won, and once again been barred from office, has been averted.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservative; elections; thailand

[Steven Scharf]

The Conservative party in Thailand has taken a solid lead in their snap elections. Below is a tracker, which shows the Bhumjaithai Party is leading on a wave of nationalism and economic concerns. There seats won has actually gone down from 198 to 194 in the last half hour. The liberal People's Party has won all 33 of the Bangkok seats.

https://www.thaipbs.or.th/election69/result/en?tab=summary

[whitney69]

This doesn’t mean much. Foreign elections are many times even more dishonest than in the US. And even if their elections are right, the leaders going into power don’t always last too long.

wy69

[dfwgator]

Thailand?

[Steven Scharf]

They had 60 political parties vying for seats in this election. 37 of them did not win a seat. 18 of them won six or less seats.

[Steven Scharf]

Thailand is an exception. There elections are well runing with over 80% turnout. The “winning party” did not win outright. They will need to form a coalition with one of the losing parties to elect their PM and govern.

[whitney69]

That’s pretty close to being well run. But in the end, the haves still tell the have nots who it will be and it is not controlled by the people. A perfect example is Gaza. And hamas solidified it in 2006 when they even took elections out of the process so they would stay in power. We in he US have the same problem with the electoral college.

wy69

[aquila48]

People are starting to regain their sanity and common se se all over the world.