00:00Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvitakou's Pung Jai Thai party won a clear victory in Sunday's
00:06general election. The win raises the prospect that a more stable coalition may now succeed
00:11in bringing an end to a period of political instability that has long plagued Southeast
00:16Asia's second largest economy. Pung Jai Thai's victory today is the victory of all Thais,
00:23Anutin said at a press briefing on Sunday, adding we have to do the utmost to serve the
00:27Thai people with our full ability. With nearly 95 percent of polling stations reporting,
00:35preliminary results released by the Election Commission showed the Pung Jai Thai party winning
00:39about 192 seats, compared to 117 for the Progressive People's Party and 74 for the once-dominant
00:46Pung Jai Thai party. A handful of other parties won a combined 117 spots in the 500-seat parliament,
00:52according to a Reuters calculation of Election Commission data.
00:55Even as results were trickling in earlier on Sunday, the People's Party leader Nathapong
01:04Rung Panyot conceded that his party did not look likely to win. He said the party would
01:09neither join a Pung Jai Thai-led government nor form a competing coalition. Anutin set the
01:15stage for the snap election in mid-December during a border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia,
01:20a move that political analysts said appeared to be timed by the conservative leader to cash in
01:25on surging nationalism. It is a gamble that paid off for a prime minister who dissolved parliament
01:31less than 100 days after taking over from the ouster of Pue-Tai party premier Pei-Tong-Tan Shinawac.
01:38When Anutin dissolved parliament in December, he cited dysfunction and infighting between rival parties
01:43as making it impossible to lead a minority government. Critical to Anutin's success were
01:49his embrace of nationalism and Pung Jai Thai's strategy of winning over politicians from rival
01:54parties in rural areas, analysts said. Thai voters were also asked to decide if a new constitution
02:00should replace a 2017 military-backed charter that critics say concentrated power in undemocratic
02:06institutions, including a powerful Senate that is chosen through an indirect selection process
02:10with limited public participation. The election commission's early count showed voters backing
02:15the referendum by a margin of nearly two to one. Thailand has had 20 constitutions since the end
02:20of its absolute monarchy in 1932, with most of the changes coming in the wake of military coups.
02:26The new government and lawmakers can start the amendment process in parliament with two more
02:31referendums required to adopt a new constitution.
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