text: BANGKOK • Thais began the nail-biting wait late yesterday to see whether the ruling junta will return to power as a civilian government, or if pro-democracy parties can triumph against the odds, as polls closed in the country's first general election since a 2014 coup.
  At press time, Thai junta party took an unexpected lead with 90% of votes counted, according to the commission.
  Yesterday's crunch vote was foreshadowed by a cryptic last-minute warning from King Maha Vajiralongkorn to support "good" leaders to prevent "chaos". Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and the palace is nominally above politics. But the institution retains unassailable powers and is insulated from criticism by a harsh royal defamation law.
  The election pits a royalist junta and its allies against the election-winning machine of billionaire ex-Prime Minister (ex-PM) Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a 2006 coup, and an unpredictable wave of millions of first-time voters.
  "I am anxious," said Wipa Ployngam, 53, outside the Bangkok headquarters of the upstart, anti-junta Future Forward party, hoping a pro-democracy coalition will nudge its way to victory. "I'll stay here all night until everything becomes clear."
  Politicians across the spectrum fear a stalemate under election rules, written by the junta, which limit the chances of any single party emerging with a comfortable parliamentary majority. Experts said unstable coalitions could swiftly collapse, dunking the kingdom back into political crisis.
  There are 51 million eligible voters and more than seven million first-timers aged 18-25. Preliminary results were expected within a few hours of the polls closing at 5pm yesterday, with exit polls giving an unreliable steer on the outcome.
  The junta party, which is proposing army-chief-turned PM Prayut Chan-o-cha (picture) for civilian PM after the polls, is under intense pressure to avoid humiliation in what is effectively a referendum on its popularity. Prayut toppled the civilian government of Thaksin's younger sister Yingluck in 2014. — AFP
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