Pro-democracy opposition parties surge ahead in Thailand election

His party has been bullish in calls for reform to the military and monarchy – including changes to Thailand’s stringent lèse majesté laws, which prohibit and punish criticism of the country’s royal family. Even five years ago, open discussion of the legislation was a strict taboo.

In a sign of the party’s strength, Move Forward was poised to sweep all but one of the constituency seats in Bangkok.

Meanwhile Pheu Thai – a populist party fronted by Paethongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter and niece of two popular prime ministers ousted in recent coups – is on course to be the second largest party. Ms Shinawatra, who gave birth just two weeks before the election, congratulated Move Forward on their success and said “we can work together”.

Still, a path to a coalition is bumpy in a country that has seen two coups, two constitutions and multiple major parties disbanded in the last 20 years. The military-appointed senate also has an outsized say in who becomes the country’s prime minister, while both pro-democracy parties face the threat of being dissolved by a court order.

“This election will either see Thailand settle deeper into a long-term conservative-royalist bureaucratic state, or perk up with a qualitatively different government that could move the country forward again,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told The Telegraph.