MrMojoRisin

My guess is the kids would love the opportunity to hit the streets and finish off the dinosaurs once and for all. Conservatives are going to need to tread very carefully for some time yet.

If Thaksin is a spent force whilst perched on 142 seats, how would you describe Prayuth psquatting upon his 36 seats?

Dual pricing, though annoying, makes sense to me due to the wealth disparity between myself and most Thais. If you don't see value in something don't spend your money on it.

Look at you, can't win fairly so you want the referee to cheat for you. Sorry pal, those days are over.

Relax mate, you lost. Time to suck it up and put on your big boy pants. Look on the bright side, now that the pro democracy side of Thai politics is in charge you'll be able to spend the next 20+ years critiquing their performance and, or course, there'll be many many more articles on Thaksin for you to comment on once he arrives back in Thailand. Take a minute to grieve, then move past it.

First opportunity to form a government

The people have had enough, the kids are no longer afraid. Let's see what unfolds in the coming weeks.

But do they still hold sway?

The military appoint the Senate The government appoint the military leadership. Hmm?

Far from being my hero, Thaksin was always a necessary stepping stone from military run Thailand to a Thailand where a party such as Move Forward can win an election. No Thaksin means there would never be a Move Forward. He will make it home and he will fade away from Thai politics. All in all, the juice was worth the squeeze.

???????????? In answering a question, Pita said former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has the right to return to Thailand from his exile and given a fair legal trial.

All to what end. Anything other than accepting their election loss leads to either another election in which they would get thumped even harder or a coup which would be met by unrelenting street mobs consisting of the nations youths and rural poor. It's lose-lose for the junta. Time to put the tail between the legs and wander off.

Senators can vote for the PM but not for lower house legislation. 183 votes ain't worth a thing in a 500 seat chamber.

Strange numbers for Prayuth, only 814,000 constituency votes yet a relatively massive 4,752,000 party list votes. It will be interesting to see an analysis once the count is complete.

The government can investigate and forward cases to the courts. Once information of possible crimes is in the public domain....

No party has ever campaigned on reforming lese majeste, yet here we are. The new government will move heaven and earth to expose all that the junta has been up to over the last 9 years - there will be touching.

More importantly the election results prove the Thai people agree they want democracy.

Very hard to see Senators breaking ranks, but who knows, orders may come in from above. The Senators lose their power to participate in the selection of the Prime Minister in 2024 so pushing ahead with a minority government and thus another election achieves nothing but delaying the inevitable (and risking an uprising from the masses).

Not sure about that. This result is probably the best scenario for Thaksin. His party is crucial in forming a governing coalition so there is power there whilst he will be able to take a back seat as Move Forward push more controversial reforms through parliament. Thaksin would never take the lead on issues such as lese majeste and military reform but his support will be required for Pita to get these changes legislated. PT ruling in their own right would be fraught with danger, this outcome appears that Thaksin will be able to have his cake and eat it. He should be home this year. The end of the Thaksin era is here as Move Forward are only going to get stronger and stronger as they implement their policies and the Thai demography continues to change in the favour. What of the conservative side from here on in now that they can no longer rely on coups to gain power? You would think it is a long and barren road ahead for them.

A minority government is unworkable. The 300+ lower house seats controlled by MF and PT means they dictate the outcome of every single vote in the lower house which could only lead to another election being called. One cannot imagine that the vote for Prayuth would increase should this be the case. It is a dead end road for the junta, their only viable course of action is to simply accept defeat and step aside.

The leader of the party that wins the most seats has the first opportunity to attempt to form a coalition - it is standard practice all over the world. The likely coalition of MF, PT and several smaller parties will command at least 308 seats. At best, a coalition of Prayuth, Prawit, Anutin and a few smaller parties would command about 183 seats - under the 251 required for a lower house majority. Are you suggesting that the leader of a party that won less seats should become the PM?

It will be interesting to see how hard the new government led by Pita goes after the outgoing government for their crimes. No better way to prevent future coups than to lock up the perpetrators of the last coup.

He's holding up a finger for each vote he expects to receive.

Is this really the role of the military? Divert the resources away from the Generals and into the correct agencies and I'm sure the money will be much much more efficiently spent.

MF and PT have a lower house majority.