Name: Polls close in Thailand with no clear winner in sight | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-02-08T17:02:47.000Z
Duration: 8 min 52 s
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Polls are now closed in Thailand's election and no party is expected to win.

Sunday's snap election was set off by the Prime Minister Anutin Chandvirakul after his minority conservative government was threatened with a no confidence vote.

He is facing stiff competition from Thailand's progressive movement, including the leader of the People's Party which was blocked from taking power after coming out ahead in the last election.

The party is vowing to reform the military and judiciary.

For more, let's cross over to DW's Asia Pacific Bureau chief Georg Mattes in Bangkok.

As you can see, polls have closed at 5pm local time and the counting is now in full swing.

Right behind me you see the general election and on the right side you see the constitutional referendum that is being counted.

And the first results we have coming in is that the People's Party, as expected one can say, is in a lead.

And second runner up is Bum Chai Thai, the party of the current Prime Minister in Thailand.

So it's a race between those two and will be really interesting to see how the other parties perform because, because it's unexpected that either of the two will reach the 250 seats needed to appoint the next prime minister.

So they will need to form a coalition most likely, that is.

And it will be interesting how the potential coalition partners like the Pir Thai Party for instance, are performing.

Pure Thai could team up with the People's Party for instance.

Now Gab, we know that Thailand has been in a kind of political turmoil now for years.

Can you just talk us through briefly and what's the mood among voters?

I mean turbulent times in the past three years.

You saw the predecessor of the People's Party, the so called Move Forward Party, winning the last election in a landslide and then being blocked from power by procedural processes, by constitutional courts.

We've seen two prime ministers de installed in legal, judicial ways, not by the voter, but.

And so this clearly has resonated with voters across Thailand in a feeling that their voice has not been heard.

And so that is why this time round everybody's taking a very close look at how this race is playing out.

And what role does the border dispute with Cambodia play in this election?

Clearly it was in the favor of conservative pro military parties that capitalized on this ongoing conflict.

The nationalism in Thailand is sky high as we speak.

And other parties like the People's party, for instance, promoted that a resolution needs to be found for this conflict because after all, it's a very expensive conflict and it would fall into the hands of whoever gets into the seat of power.

Just briefly, Georg, voters are also deciding on a constitutional referendum aimed at strengthening popular power.

If the answer is yes, the new parliament, they will have to hammer out a new text.

And this goes to the core of the issue of institutions like the Constitutional Court meddling with with politics in Thailand.

If it's a yes, it's likely that these institutions that are mainly representing the Thai establishment will lose power in this country.

Georg Mattis, the DW Asia Pacific Bureau chief.

Georg, from Bangkok there, thank you so very much for that.

Let's get some more analysis now with Dr. Janjira Sombad Poon Siri.

She is a research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies.

So what are you expecting from today's results?

I'm looking at real time result right now and it's not looking as I expected earlier that the People's Party could win though with a narrow gap.

Right now the Thai party, the, the ruling party at the moment is leading.

I think it could be either it would win, we have to wait because so far the votes, only almost 2% of the votes have been counted or People's Party could win, but

it would be a very, very, very narrow gap.

Now even if the People's Party was to win, they won the most seats in the 2023 election, but

its leader was still blocked from becoming Prime Minister by the Senate.

Do explain to us please, why do elections have such limits in Thailand?

I mean there are elites that are nationally elected in Thailand.

These operate within the military, the powers and other so called independent bodies.

And these are the establishment who want to uphold the status quo.

But they still have to coexist with an electoral process which is something that the international community expects to see from Thailand.

So the way in which they coexist with elections is to co opt these elections by allowing the most voted party to win but not allowing them to govern or form a government.

And could something similar happen this time as well?

I mean if we, if we're lucky and the People's Party wins the election, it could be that number one, they cannot form the coalition because they need to get at least 150 seats in the parliament and they, I don't think they would have that number or they managed to form the coalition.

But the Constitutional Court as always, will find something against them.

Some allegations would emerge and that would lead to the, the, the sort of the, the banning of the Prime Minister, the dismissal of the Prime Minister and eventually the dissolution of the party.

What about other influences, outside influences like for example the war with Cambodia.

I think the reason why Hungary is leading at the moment is because the party tries to represent, you know, ideological, sorry, nationalistic ideology.

So basically this is part of that policy package and they want to be the national savior for Thai people, someone who safeguard the Thai territory.

And a lot of Thais have bought into that.

And just briefly if you would, what is all of this telling us about the actual state of Thai democracy?

I mean, if I am to use an academic word, that would be what we call a hybrid regime.

This is a political system that as I said co ops an election and seemingly embraces a couple of democratic principles.

But in reality election is not free or fair and repression of dissidents is part of the norm.

So it is not a full on form of dictatorship we experienced between 14, 2014 and 2019.

But certainly we have to end it at this point for time reasons.

You're up to date however, and you're watching dw, thanks for being with us.