Thailand’s Election Commission says, pro-army Palang Pracharat Party won the popular vote in Sunday’s (March 24) general election with 8.4 million ballots.

Anti-junta Pheu Thai party joins forces with six smaller parties to have a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament and form the next government.

A regional election observation group is criticizing the initial results from Sunday’s general election in Thailand as “deeply flawed.”

Democratic hopes in ASEAN hinge on Thailand as voters headed to polls Sunday for first time in nearly 5 years, since military junta took power in May 2014.

Thais vote was a return to democratic rule, but critics say it was an exercise designed by P.M Prayut to entrench his military’s stranglehold on power.

The 250 members of the Senate will all be appointed by the military, with political parties contesting 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

Thailand’s military government has failed to create conditions for a free and fair national election on March 24, 2019, Human Rights Watch said.

Thailand is preparing for a Sunday vote in its first general election since a 2014 military coup.Nearly 52 million Thais are eligible to vote.